


Cleaning Messes

by Nakira Taisho (nakirataisho)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bee!Juleka, Canon Compliant, Cat!Kagami, Chat will be fired, F/F, Fox!Luka, Guardian!Marinette, Post-Episode: s03 Miracle Queen (The Battle of the Miraculous Part 2), Salt, Slow Burn, Turtle!Ivan, ml salt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:08:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22383076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nakirataisho/pseuds/Nakira%20Taisho
Summary: After the Miracle Queen 'fiasco', Marinette dives into her new duties with the Miracle Box and begins pushing for a change in both her team and the situation in Paris…
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi
Comments: 69
Kudos: 836





	1. Starting New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette barely takes the time to grieve the loss of her barely there mentor and formulates a plan. She starts by going to the recently revived Order…

Marinette's first 'act' with the Miracle Box after she finished really processing what happened with the last major Akuma, Miracle Queen, was to take the Horse Miraculous and teleport to the revived temple to try and get help from the Order of Guardians. As if they were expecting her, a young-looking woman in simple clothes was standing in the courtyard when Marinette stepped through the portal.

"So, you're the one that has our missing Box," she said lightly.

"Yes, and I need guidance," Marinette sighed. "Wen Fu, the trainee that had the Box before--"

"The boy that misused a Miraculous because he couldn't handle his training," the woman bit, cutting her off. "He needs to clean up his own mess and return the Box to us before we deal with him."

"He did something that wiped his memory of the Miraculous," she groaned.

"An interesting development…come with me to speak with the elders."

"Okay…"

The woman led her through the temple and to a chamber where five old men were sitting in a circle on pillows. Marinette was left alone with the group of men.

"You must be Ladybug," one of them sighed. "The one that restored us."

"Did the boy send you to plead for lenience?" another questioned.

"No. I came here for guidance," she snapped. "Wen Fu did something that erased his memory and changed the appearance of the Miracle Box."

"The transference spell…," a third elder sighed. "Perhaps you should tell us everything that's transpired recently…"

"Well, I don't know much that happened before Hawkmoth started terrorizing my city…but what I do know is that someone found the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous and they are using them to create villains and monsters in order to steal the Ladybug Earrings and the Cat Ring."

"Found?" the first questioned. "So, the boy _lost_ Miraculous that day?"

"And a grimoire," she told them. "What matters at this point is that there are two people using Miraculous for evil and I'm nowhere near prepared for--"

"This is that boy Fu's mess to clean."

"But he doesn't even remember the Miraculous!"

"And he appointed you to fix things," the one that had remained silent the entire time sighed. "Have you found the missing Grimoire?"

That was a question she had to tiptoe around the answer to since they were clearly planning to leave her on her own. In fact, she made the decision to keep her discoveries to herself.

"No," she sighed. "Not that I'd be able to do anything with it if I _did_ find it."

"Perhaps we can provide you with the code," one of them sighed. "But unfortunately, my girl…beyond that you are on your own."

The assembled elders nodded in agreement and she was dismissed with a roll of parchment in hand. She thanked them for the code and teleported herself back to Paris.

"Some help they were…," she griped when she was safe back in her room. She at least could decipher the pictures of the pages of the grimoire. And she had Fu's potion ingredients.

So, she got to work. Her shrine to Adrien came down and she replaced it with a map of the city that she started trying to triangulate Hawkmoth's potential hideaway on. She started working on translating the Grimoire photos and organizing the potion ingredients.

She learned more while translating those photos than she had in any fleeting rendezvous with Fu. And there were more permanent power-ups available to her with a few incantations. Similar spells were available for the Cat, but she wasn't sure if her partner was ready for them. And flipping through some of the recordings of fights, she was starting to wonder if he was even really fit to be a hero. With the tantrums and the joking around…and the altogether pointless sacrifices. Add to all that his insistence on trying to find out her identity and him never taking her solid no for an answer with his constant flirting and date attempts. To this day there were points when she couldn't even look at a red rose without being reminded of both Glaciator and Le Patineur when he'd gotten so worked up about her refusals that it had nearly cost them the day.

This wasn't a game that they could just start over on, even if Bunnix took matters into her own hands from her little time hole. She even had issues with Bunnix's existence. The hero was a paradox waiting to happen and she was terrified that any sense of déjà vu was actually the bunny hopping through and changing something like this was the Matrix (not that Marinette had ever snuck a graphic rated R film out of the living room and watched it on her computer, she would _never do something like that_ ~~she totally watched the whole series~~ ) or something she could edit at will. And from reading the Grimoire and looking at all of the Miraculous in her possession, Marinette knew that there was no way she could ever give Alix the Rabbit Miraculous because the Miraculous was _not_ the watch that Alix had and the one that matched the drawing in the Grimoire was not in the Box, though apparently Fluff the Kwami existed inside the box.

Shaking off her concerns about Bunnix, she sketched out a new suit and invoked one of the incantations over the earrings before transforming. She looked at herself in the mirror and nodded at the changes that her suit had taken on to match her drawing. There was also a second yo-yo hanging from her waist, just as the incantation she'd tried out promised. She smiled and headed for a secluded area to practice and think. She knew that Hawkmoth would be getting desperate and might step up his game. So, she tried to come up with a counter plan while she worked on her coordination with two yo-yos.

The villains had been devious enough to track her to Fu and capture him and the box. And she knew that the Akuma and Sentimonster would continue to get harder to handle without help. She couldn't risk leaving the fight to go get help, not when that would put her identity at risk. So, the logical solution to _that_ problem was to find people she could trust to permanently have Miraculous and help as needed.

She knew that she had to be quick, because it was only a matter of time before Hawkmoth and Mayura had a fully formed plan after the Miracle Queen fiasco and the next wave of Akuma and Sentimonster would start showing up. But _their_ inactivity while plotting gave her a chance to plan her counter attack. So, she went through her friends and picked the four that she felt would be most suited to hero work and wielding the powers. She planned to give out the three remaining from the top tier and one of the most versatile of the Zodiacs.

Ivan was strong and protective, she knew he was fiercely loyal. His weakness would be that he was large and not very fast. Overall, however, she was after someone that could provide ground defence and protect civilians, and he fit the bill for the Turtle.

Luka was clever and resourceful, a tactician who was better with actions than words. He was an observer, and he would be able to make the best use of a musical weapon and the powers the Fox provided.

Juleka was lithe and flexible, eager for a spotlight but afraid to step into it when offered. Maybe a mask would be just the confidence boost she needed. Most of all, she was a team player and that was what mattered the most for an effective Bee.

 _Kagami_ was a risk, but she was highly skilled with a sword. And she was clever with both the element changes and putting her own twist on Ladybug's plans to make them more effective. With a new suit and name, she would _still_ make for a perfect Dragon.

Hawkmoth was secretly clever, but he likely wouldn't think that Ladybug would risk giving the same Miraculous permanently to someone that had their identity revealed to him and his allies.

So, she set to work making the Box less conspicuous by building a little doll house and reciting one of the spells in the Grimoire. As she said the spell, the dollhouse spun and the egg vanished. When she turned the house to look inside it, the back was sealed with little circles with each Miraculous' symbol on it. She touched the Fox symbol and her fingers went through the circle and connected with the Fox Pendant.

Out of the things Fu had left for her in that locker, she pulled four of the familiar little jewel boxes and started setting the Miraculous up for transport. She also made sure to draw out a potential new suit for Kagami to transform into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit me up on [Tumblr](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/ask) or [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/nakirataisho)


	2. A New Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With nothing but the Kwami at her side, Marinette recruits a team of permanent heroes to prepare for Hawkmoth's next move…

Notes were written and Marinette used a spell from the Grimoire scans to call out her four chosen Kwami. She explained the plan to them and spent a solid half hour arguing with them that her plan was best for the situation. She realized that they had good reason to argue her plan. After all, revealing herself as Ladybug to the new heroes was risky. If any of them were Akumatized or hit with certain types of blasts, Hawkmoth would learn her identity and he would get his wish. But she felt that the stakes were being raised by the villains and they had to react accordingly.

Marinette was careful with setting up her gifting. She didn't want anyone that she couldn't trust figuring out her plan. Unfortunately, with all points on her map pointing to Gabriel Agreste despite his previous Akumatization, and her deductions after Bunnix dragged her into the future to fight Chat Blanc, that list included Adrien. But, she had just the Miraculous to deliver her notes to her chosen heroes: The Rat and Horse. She became Multimouse during lunch hour at school and divided herself after unifying her chosen Miraculous.

One copy slipped into Ivan's locker to wait for him, while another went to Juleka's seat in their classroom. She knew that Rose would be hanging around Lila during lunch, hanging on every word that the liar said about her various charities and activist groups, but Juleka had quickly gotten tired of the stories and crowd and spent her lunch period in the locker room or the classroom. She was counting on the latter. One copy used Vortex to teleport to Kagami's private school while another went to Luka's school.

* * *

In the locker room, Ivan opened his locker to fetch his lunch and shouted in surprise at the tiny girl sitting on his bag with a notecard in hand that was much too large for the mouse sized girl.

"Who are you?" he asked, realizing that she was probably a superhero. "Why are you in my locker?"

"I have a message for you," she said lightly, holding the card up. He paused, but took it from her.

_Ivan Bruel. To start, please return this note to Multimouse when you've finished reading and tell her your decision. I would like to meet with you to discuss you joining my team as a permanent hero. I'll be waiting for you at the North Leg of the Eiffel Tower immediately after school before your band meets up to practice._ And the note was signed with Ladybug's trademark signature on the back. He reread the note several times before giving it back to the tiny heroine.

"I'll be there," he promised before grabbing his lunchbox and shutting the locker on Multimouse. Thankfully, there were no witnesses and he got the feeling that Ladybug had somehow planned it that way. And she wanted _him_ to be a hero.

* * *

At the same time, Juleka slipped back into her homeroom and sat at her desk to eat her lunch. She almost didn't notice the mouse sized girl sitting by her girlfriend's pencil bag with a notecard bearing Ladybug's signature.

"Whoa…," she gasped when she nearly set her thermos down on the girl. "You're cool…who are you?"

"I'm Multimouse," the girl said lightly. "I have a message for you from Ladybug," she explained, holding up the notecard. Juleka paused and took the card from her, flipping it over to read it.

_Juleka Couffaine. To start, please return this note to Multimouse when you've finished reading and tell her your decision. I would like to meet with you to discuss you joining my team as a permanent hero. I'll be waiting for you at the South Leg of the Eiffel Tower immediately after your band meets up to practice._ Almost immediately, she gave the card back to Multimouse.

"I don't know if she picked the right person, but I'll be there," she promised. Multimouse grinned at her and hopped off of the desk, slipping out of the room with the note in hand.

* * *

Kagami was eating alone in an out of use classroom, reading through _The Sheltered Teen's Guide to Making Friends_. A small noise startled her and she started to strike the source with her book. Her swing came to a stop when she realized that the source was a miniscule girl in a mask who had cleared her throat softly. Her first assumption was that this girl was an Akuma and she pulled her hand back to start again with her attack. She stopped again when the girl held up a notecard with Ladybug's seal almost as a shield.

Frowning, she put her book down and fully looked at the tiny girl in her simple grey pantsuit with a thin black belt that hung as a tail. Soft pink buttons ran down her torso and her mask was pastel pink with grey trim. Her blue-grey hair was styled to emulate mouse ears and Kagami couldn't help but find her absolutely adorable. The fencer gently took the notecard from the girl and flipped it over.

"Sorry to startle you," the girl said lightly.

"It's fine. Ladybug sent you?" she questioned and the girl nodded.

_Kagami Tsurugi. To start, please return this note to Multimouse when you've finished reading and tell her your decision. I would like to meet with you to discuss you joining my team as a permanent hero. I'll be waiting for you at the East Leg of the Eiffel Tower immediately after your Fencing practice._ She frowned, wondering how Ladybug would know her schedule.

"But…Hawkmoth knows that she picked me to be Ryuuko…it doesn't seem like something that someone like Ladybug would risk a third time…," she noted, handing the note back to Multimouse.

"She'll explain her decision if you meet with her. Do you accept?"

"Yes," she said firmly. "I will."

* * *

Luka was alone in the Music Room, and that was the way he liked it. No one ever came in there during lunch, and he had the space to himself to work on songs or just decompress after a long morning of dealing with people. If he didn't have this alone time, he wouldn't be able to make it through the second half of his school day.

"Excuse me," a small voice said near a music stand. He looked to see a girl no bigger than a mouse approaching with a notecard that was twice her size. If it wasn't so strange, he would have thought it was cute. He lowered himself to the floor to get a better look at her.

"Do you want some help?" he offered. "I could take this card off your hands…"

"Well, the card is for you and I have to take it back once you're done reading it," she said matter-of-factly. He frowned and took the note.

_Luka Couffaine. To start, please return this note to Multimouse when you've finished reading and tell her your decision. I would like to meet with you to discuss you joining my team as a permanent hero. I'll be waiting for you at the South Leg of the Eiffel Tower immediately after your band meets up to practice._ The back of the card was marked with Ladybug's trademark signature. He reread the note several times before giving it back to the tiny heroine.

"It's strange…but I'll be there," he promised.

* * *

When all the copies of Multimouse were back together, afternoon classes were well under way and Marinette was glad that she'd warned her teachers that she was going to be taking the afternoon for business, which wasn't a lie as she got to work on some sketches after dropping the transformation. Right before school was scheduled to let out, she transformed using the Horse Miraculous and created a portal to the Eiffel Tower. After dropping her transformation in a hidden corner, she went to the north corner of the landing and waited patiently. Tikki popped out of her bag while she watched the crowds below and the groups taking the elevator to avoid the workout that was the staircase.

"Are you sure about this plan, Marinette?" Tikki asked.

"I'm sure. If the Order refuses to give me the help I need, I'm going to do this my way. And with no one left for me to really confide in about this…I don't want to have another breakdown in the middle of an incident…," she sighed. "I'm the guardian now…so I make the rules."

"Okay…I trust you," Tikki sighed. The Kwami dove out of sight as heavy footsteps could be heard on the stairs.

"Marinette?" she heard Ivan gasp and she turned to face him. "Wow…I wasn't expecting anyone to be here…no one ever uses this landing anymore…"

"That's why I chose it," she said lightly, reaching into her bag. She double checked the jewellery box and nodded to herself.

" _You_ chose it? But I'm supposed to be meeting with--" he broke off, clearly realizing the need for secrecy.

"Ladybug?" she finished for him, holding out the jewellery box. "I couldn't risk anyone seeing Ladybug here giving out Miraculous. I kind of stand out in that suit," she laughed. "Yes, I'm revealing myself to you," she told him.

"But why? I thought that secret identities were super important…"

"They are, but this is what's best to finish this fight, I think. Now…this is the Miraculous of the Turtle, which grants the power of Protection," she said and he hesitantly took the box from her. "You won't be obligated to appear for every Akuma. Only if Chat Noir and I seem to be struggling, or if I call you."

"That's reasonable, but…permanent?"

"Until Hawkmoth is defeated, my routine of rushing off to get a Miraculous and find a person to use it…," she trailed off.

"He could find out who you are," he guessed. She nodded and he opened the box. "I'll do it." Wayzz appeared in a ball of light and Ivan gasped in surprise.

"Hello," Wayzz greeted. "My name is Wayzz, and I shall be your Kwami. Marinette…," the Kwami turned to her.

"I know, Wayzz," she sighed. "Now, Ivan…I'm the only one that can know your identity. Not even the other members of the team. And I hate asking you to keep such a huge secret from Mylène, but…"

"I understand, Marinette," he said. "I'm glad you think you can trust me with this…I just…I'm not fast, and I'm so big…"

"Ivan, you're perfect for this job. During Akuma attacks, I want you to focus on protecting the Civilians and giving ground cover," she explained to him and he put the bracelet on.

"I won't let you down then," he promised. "And…you can call me Skilpadde."

"All right. I look forward to working with you," she said brightly as Wayzz flew around to find a hiding place in Ivan's deep pockets. "You should get to practice," she added after checking the time on her phone. Ivan nodded and hurried off.

Marinette moved to the East Leg to wait. Kagami arrived almost precisely fifteen minutes after the end of fencing practice and twenty minutes after Ivan left. Marinette smirked to herself as she mentally applauded her planning. Kitty Section practice would be finishing after Kagami was well on her way home for the night.

"Why are you here Marinette?" Kagami questioned.

"The view from here is nice," she said lightly, pulling out the box containing the Dragon Miraculous. "And since hardly anyone ever comes here anymore, it was the perfect place for this meeting."

"Then that would mean that you're Ladybug," the fencer guessed and Marinette laughed lightly.

"Exactly," she agreed, turning to hold out the jewellery box. "You're familiar with this one, and I brought a few sketches for a new suit. I would also say you should go with a different name."

"You're giving me the _Dragon_? But Hawkmoth and his allies know that I'm Ryuuko…"

"True, that is very true…they do know the identity of _Ryuuko_."

"You think he'll fall for it?"

"We're talking about a man who's Akumatized a baby five times, an AI robot…and the same pigeon man half a dozen times…," she pointed out.

"Good point," Kagami sighed. "So, these sketches…?" Marinette nodded and presented the drawings.

"I tried to draw from Japanese culture…," she said softly as Kagami looked over the designs.

"These…are gorgeous. You're a great talent, Marinette. And you're sure the suit will change?"

"I have a book of spells that I used on your Miraculous to make sure it would happen," she assured her.

"Then you and Chat Noir can call me Senryuu," Kagami said lightly, opening the jewellery box and putting on the choker. Longg gave a flourishing bow and flew into Kagami's bag as the fencer left.

Marinette smiled a little and went to the South Leg to wait for the Couffaine siblings. Tikki flew out of her bag and smiled brightly.

"So, this is going well according to plan…but are you absolutely sure about meeting with Juleka and Luka at the same time?"

"They share a cabin, so it's best to get the stress of a reveal out of the way from the start," she explained. She checked the time and smiled as two sets of footsteps and confused whispering reached her ears almost exactly at the time she expected them.

"So, Ladybug sent you a note too?" Juleka was asking quietly. "With the cute little mouse girl…"

"Yeah…wonder why she wanted to meet with us at the same time though…," Luka mumbled.

"Because you two share a cabin, so you'd find out each other's identities whether I wanted you to or not," Marinette said as she saw their heads rise above the landing. The two of them stopped short as they climbed the stairs.

"Marinette? _You're_ Ladybug?" Juleka gasped. She nodded and beckoned the two of them to join her.

"That explains a lot…," Luka sighed. Marinette gave them the boxes.

"For Juleka, the Bee, granting the power of Subjection. And for Luka, the Fox which grants the power of Magic. Your Kwami will explain your powers in full…," she told them.

"Why me?" Juleka asked as her brother got out and put on his Miraculous. "Just because you were picking my brother?"

"No," Marinette sighed, reaching to catch Juleka's free hand. "Because you're a good friend and I think you have what it takes to be a hero." She gently opened the box and put the comb in Juleka's hair, pushing her friend's bangs back with it. Pollen appeared and floated to the side. "I believe in you, Juleka. And you don't have to fight if Chat Noir and I have it covered. And besides you two, I picked two others. You don't have to get involved if you're not comfortable with it," she assured her. "And on top of that, Luka and I are the only ones who'll know who's behind the mask."

"Beach Mheala…," Juleka said quietly. Marinette smiled at her and looked to Luka.

"Sionnach," he said simply.

"I look forward to working with the both of you…and I don't think I need to tell you that this must stay between the three of us," she sighed. The two of them nodded and left together. When they were gone, Marinette transformed with the Horse Miraculous and went home to put that one away before she transformed into Ladybug and went on patrol. While she was roaming the city, she spotted Chat Noir sitting atop one of the towers of Notre Dame. She frowned and went to check on him. "Hey Kitty."

"Oh…hey Ladybug…," he greeted, not looking at her.

"Are you okay? You don't usually come out on my patrol nights," she said lightly and sat beside him.

"Well…this kind of feels like a calm before a storm, you know?"

"I know…that's why I just picked out four new heroes to help us in emergencies," she told him. "I gave the Turtle, Dragon, Fox and Bee…to different people that weren't revealed during the Miracle Queen incident."

"Oh…cool. Any chance you might share who they are with me? You're the Guardian now…"

"I know, and no…I won't be sharing them with you. Not with as often as you get hit with mind control attacks," she sighed. He pouted at her.

"And why pick different holders for three of them? I mean, I get Chloé, but…"

"Because Hawkmoth discovered the identities of every temporary hero with the last incident," she reminded him. "If the situation escalates, he could specifically target them and their families."

"Oh, come on…this is the same guy that's picked the same baby and the same pigeon guy over a dozen times each already," he joked. "And seriously…the last incident was pretty…well you know…we always deal with Chloé's tantrums pretty easily in the long run."

"It's still not a chance I'm willing to take," she snapped. "This isn't a game." With that, she vaulted away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> The pronunciation of Juleka's hero name is Bee-ock May-la and Luka's is She-oh-nock  
> Hit me up on [Tumblr](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/ask) or [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/nakirataisho)


	3. You're Fired!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir learns a hard lesson about being reckless, that ends up getting his Miraculous taken!

Marinette had perfect timing. Because school wasn’t even halfway through the morning before an Akuma attacked. Things were difficult enough that all of the new heroes made an appearance.

Sionnach was the first to arrive in a fox coloured suit that appeared like some bard straight out of a fantasy movie, his hair had magically changed from being black with blue tips to black roots, that faded to red and then to white at the tips. The look was finished with light leather boots, a fox tail sash and fox ears.

Skilpadde wore a military style uniform in a neutral green with his hair tucked under a flat top cap. Heavy boots finished the soldier look and he was very efficient at the task Ladybug had given him.

Beach Mheala had come up with a gold micro dress with black corset over ripped black leggings. The corset was tied with gold thread and she had black fingerless gloves that showed off honeycomb nails. Her usually purple highlights had changed to yellow and her hair was in a low ponytail with her bangs held back by her Miraculous. Her look was completed by dazzling gold combat boots with black laces.

Ladybug was happy that Senryuu had picked out her favourite of the designs she’d drawn up. A blood red blouse with gold trim and black hakama pants with a red belt and gold lining. Simple black foot wrappings protected Senryuu’s feet and her normally blue-black hair had taken on a more red hue with her dragon horns that faded to gold.

After the fight, they were chatting and Beach Mheala was complimenting Ladybug on her new suit. And she definitely was very proud of how her previously plain spotted suit had been adjusted to something that reflected Marinette’s culture and her new position. Simple black pants and a red tunic with gold clasps and a new utility belt that was red with black spots. Her mask still had the spots and she had black spotted red gloves.

Fortunately, she’d warned them all about Chat’s desire to learn their identities, so they were prepared when he started trying to get hints out of them. Skilpadde simply gave Chat Noir a dirty look and left the scene. Sionnach shook his head and left as well.

"I thought our identities had to remain secret," Beach Mheala commented before using her trompo to fly away. Senryuu folded her arms and gave Chat a glare cold enough to freeze him in place.

"And I was under the impression that any kind of personal information was none of anyone’s business," Senryuu said sharply. "Unless I was misinformed by my Kwami."

"No, you have it right," Ladybug sighed. "We talked about this before, Chat. Secret identities are a secret for a reason…" Chat took a moment to glare at her before he left. Ladybug sighed tiredly and turned to Senryuu.

"Is he always so intolerable?"

"He’s…not so bad really…," Ladybug defended.

"I’ve seen the footage of fights before I came to Paris…"

"The footage doesn’t always tell the whole story," she sighed. "But I’m about to lose my transformation. I need to get going. And you probably should go too." They parted ways and Ladybug barely made it home before her transformation dropped. While she was fetching food for Tikki, she considered taking a Miraculous out for a spin and just going to clear her head, but a text message derailed that train of thought.

Frowning, she checked her phone to see that it was a message from Kagami. Her frown turned into a smile and she opened the message to see that it was a little video of a floating piece of fabric, that she was sure was being held up by Longg, attempting to do that little Gangham Style dance. She got a good laugh out of it and showed Tikki, who also laughed.

"Okay maybe telling the new heroes your identity wasn’t so bad if we can get messages like that…," Tikki laughed. Marinette smiled and started to type up a reply.

 _That’s hilarious! Thanks. Think your mom will let you out for some juice?_ She sent the message and waited for the reply. She got a thumbs up emoji and went to her closet to change out of her school clothes. She picked out a sky-blue sun dress with apple blossoms along the hem and pale pink leggings. She took her hair down and put a pink headband on. She grabbed a pair of gladiator sandals and went downstairs, putting them on before she left the apartment.

She grabbed her helmet off its hook by the door and went down to the bakery. She told her parents where she was going and then headed to the garage to her new Vespa. She put her helmet on and checked for her spare. It was in the compartment under the seat and she moved it to the basket before starting the Vespa up and driving to Kagami’s estate.

Kagami was waiting outside the gate for her looking absolutely adorable in a pastel purple corset top with darker purple under the black decorative ribbon lacing, over a mint green blouse with flowing bell sleeves and a tulle skirt in layers of mint, purple and sky blue. Her outfit was completed with sky blue vintage boots and leggings in a pastel galaxy print along with a headband sporting a giant bow to match the ensemble. Marinette stopped in front of the girl and smiled brightly at her, barely noticing the simple pearl peeking out from under a sky-blue ribbon.

"Love that outfit," she complimented. "Unfortunately, the bow has to go so we can be safe." She held out her spare helmet.

"Right…when did you get that thing?"

"My Nona bought it for me on a whim," she laughed. "Come on, let’s get out of here before your mom changes her mind."

"Right," Kagami laughed and carefully unclipped the bow from her headband and put the helmet on. The bow went into the basket and Marinette drove them to the juice bar that was quickly becoming their regular spot to hang out. She found the parking area for bikes and pulled into a spot. She put the keys in her purse and locked their helmets in the compartment under the seat. Kagami clipped her bow back onto her headband and straightened her skirt. "Interesting how we match."

"I love when that happens," she laughed and they headed inside. One of the other regulars made a comment as they passed about their outfits, and she thought she heard someone on the other side of the bar say ‘finally’. She blushed a little, realizing that some people probably thought they were on a date.

"Something wrong?" Kagami asked, noticing her blush. Marinette shook her head and they approached the counter to get their juice. After they’d ordered, they found a table. "Okay. Can I vent for a minute?"

"Sure. What about?"

"Adrien…he’s so…indecisive."

"What do you mean?"

"He _acts_ like he likes me and wants to date, but any attempts at like…kissing or whatever, he goes in for it and then abruptly jerks away…like he’s still in love with that other girl and can’t make up his mind…," she complained. "And he’s always flaking on dates or rushing off when I try to hold his hand. Almost like he’s hiding something. Do you…think he’s actually with that other girl and cheating on her with me…?"

"That doesn’t sound like something Adrien would do…," Marinette defended. "But at the same time…there are a few shows where that’s the case and everything works out because ‘True Love’ or whatever…," she sighed, wiggling her fingers dramatically when she talked about True Love. It crossed her mind that Adrien _did_ rush off a lot even with other friends when he managed to hang out. And he missed just as much class as she did, rushing out right after her sometimes according to Alya and Nino. "Maybe you shouldn’t put yourself through that, Kagami. I mean if he’s not ready to kiss or anything like that, you shouldn’t try and force him…but dropping dates without telling you or running off when you try and do couple things…you don’t have to stay in a relationship with someone that does that."

"But…it’s what our parents expect…," she mumbled.

"Screw your parents!" she snapped, a little too loudly. She covered her mouth and looked at the table. "What makes _you_ happy is what matters."

"Well, hanging out with you makes me happier than being around Adrien sometimes…," she admitted softly. "But you don’t understand…my mother is so strict and traditional…she agrees that Adrien is perfect and the perfect boy for me and…"

"No one’s perfect," Marinette sighed, thinking of all the times his ‘high road’ had hurt her. "And honestly…Don’t tell him I told you this…but he’s one of several that have tried, and succeeded, into talking me into ignoring my own feelings and be more worried about a bully’s feelings…"

"What?"

"Chloé Bourgeois has been bullying me since we were in ballet together during primary school…when we all thought she was going to go to New York with her mom, everyone that she’d ever tormented in our school was celebrating. Adrien walked up to me and essentially told me off for being happy about being free from a bully."

"I have no experience with bullies but that seems rather backwards…"

"And we have a classmate who lies with every breath, spouting off stories about celebrities and dignitaries…making promises that she can’t keep that _will_ hurt my friends…and Adrien wants me to keep quiet and _let her_ make all these promises because they’re not immediately hurting anyone and to protect _her_ feelings."

"Is he aware that these promises will be harmful?"

"I would hope so. Nino, his _best friend_ , was promised an in with a Hollywood director. When he tries to drop her name to take advantage of that…there’s no telling how that’ll affect his career. And that’s just the closest person to Adrien that she’s made an empty life-changing promise to. But all he cares about is _Lila’s_ feelings," she vented.

"Wow…maybe I should rethink my feelings for him…"

"I know I have…," Marinette muttered. "Honestly, I’m not saying you should give up on him or anything, but I think you can do better…and you definitely don’t deserve to be his rebound…"

"You know…you’re right. I’m glad you told me all this…"

"You’re my friend and I don’t want to see you hurt…and I know you don’t get as much time around him since you don’t go to our school…"

* * *

Meanwhile, across Paris, Adrien was stuck in a photoshoot with Lila. He hated this part of his life. Faking a smile and letting people hang all over him, following a photographer’s instruction and holding uncomfortable poses for what felt like hours at a time. And to make the whole situation worse, just before the shoot, he was informed that he and Lila would be dating from here on. No question of if he even liked the liar. No, he was to be her accessory. What was next? A marriage?

"Cheer up, Adrien," Lila scolded him. "The photographer was just complaining about how you’re acting."

"Do you even like me?" he demanded.

"Of course, I do!" she gasped. "Why would you think I don’t?" He rolled his eyes and went to grab a snack from the wardrobe area. As he selected a carrot from the trays, he saw a familiar black butterfly flying by. He groaned and went to find a place to transform.

* * *

Marinette and Kagami finished their juice and went to a craft shoppe on the Vespa. The ever-present digital ads on the big screens through the tourist areas switched to news footage.

"I’m hopefully a safe distance away from the bulk of the trouble," a reporter said urgently. "But there’s an active Akuma near the Eiffel Tower. By the look of it, this new villain can control people’s actions with a single attack. Hopefully, Ladybug and her new team of heroes can handle this quickly. Oh! There goes Chat Noir!" she gasped and the camera panned up to show Chat Noir leaping towards the attack. Marinette’s phone went off and she checked it. It was a message from Ivan.

 _On my way to the Eiffel Tower to try and get people out of danger_ , was his message and Marinette sent him a reply.

 _Be safe_ , was all she sent before driving to an alley and parking behind a dumpster. "Let’s go help the reckless kitty." Kagami nodded and after their helmets were secured and the keys in Marinette’s purse, they both transformed and headed to the scene. Beach Mheala and Sionnach were helping Skilpadde with crowd control while Chat Noir was being his usual self, dodging attacks by barely a centimetre and all around showing off.

Ladybug and Senryuu joined the fight and they almost had the villain cornered when a controlled civilian grabbed them from behind. Mindful of the effects of her Miraculous Ladybugs, she didn’t bother to be gentle as she threw her attacker off. Senryuu fared similarly with her own assailant and they kept their attention on the villain. She was just about to roll out of the way to let an already controlled citizen take the blast that was heading her way when she saw Chat Noir leap in the path of the attack.

"Idiot!" she gasped. He always acted without thinking or looking at the full situation! Her partner went rigid and turned to the villain, who grinned wickedly. Out of the corner of her eye, Ladybug noticed a drone camera recording the event. "Beach!" she called out. "Stop him!"

"On it! Venom!" Beach Mheala called out and started to throw her charged trompo at Chat Noir as he went to remove his ring. Less than a second before the attack connected, his ring was off and his transformation dropped. Everything seemed to freeze as his mask vanished just as the attack struck, leaving _Adrien_ frozen in place with the ring still black and poised to give to the villain.

"Ooh," a familiar saccharine voice cooed. The Akuma was Lila. "Now _that_ is interesting," she laughed and walked forward to retrieve the ring. As her hand closed around the Miraculous, the heroes swarmed on her. They had to keep her from giving the ring to one of her controlled victims to deliver to Hawkmoth.

With the battle so quickly turned five on one, they managed to get both the ring and infected item from the villain. Ladybug released the Akuma and purified it before casting her Miraculous Ladybugs. As the Venom wore off and Adrien was able to move, he looked around in confusion. Ladybug clenched her hand around the ring.

"What happened…?" he asked after a long moment, staring at his hands. "My ring! Where is it?!"

"That was stupid, Adrien," Ladybug said sharply.

"But you were about to get hit!" he argued.

"I was about to dodge!" she corrected, trying and failing to stay calm. "If you had just paused for a split second you would have seen that! Or you could have dragged me out of the way. You did _not_ have to jump in and take that hit. And because of that, the enemy got your Miraculous. And…," she pointed to the drone dutifully recording everything and likely broadcasting on every news station in the area. "You’ve revealed your identity to all of Paris." Adrien blinked at her.

"Ladybug…give me my ring back," he demanded, holding his hand out expectantly.

"No," she said simply, tucking the ring into a pouch on her utility belt. "With your identity revealed to all of Paris, including Hawkmoth, I’m left with no choice but to retire you as Chat Noir." She pulled out her yo-yo and vaulted away, landing a few blocks away from her Vespa and dropping her transformation once she was sure that there were no witnesses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Working on art for them, but so far I've got [Juleka/Beach Mheala](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/post/620912867261218816) done  
> Hit me up on [Tumblr](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/ask) or [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/nakirataisho)


	4. The Next Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Chat's identity revealed to the whole city, plans are made by multiple parties…

Marinette opened her purse and looked at the ring, a dozen thoughts running through her mind.

She'd rejected Chat Noir's affections in favour of his civilian identity. That explained how Chat Blanc knew her identity if Adrien had figured her out. And the connection made sense, thinking on it. Honestly, she hated knowing this. How he behaved as Chat Noir wasn't really as bad as the forums online claimed…was it? She shook her head and went to her Vespa. Kagami was waiting for her with her arms folded and a pensive expression.

"Everything's so much more complicated now…," she sighed.

"Tell me about it…," Kagami muttered. "Well, if I wasn't already considering breaking things off with him…I definitely am now… _you_ may not agree that his behaviour wasn't as bad as the media portrays, but…"

"Oh no…thinking about it…maybe I was just making excuses because of the situation…anyways, let's get going. We were going to pick out some fabric for a project?"

"Yeah…maybe we need a distraction and revisit this problem when it's not so fresh…"

Marinette nodded and got their helmets out. They went to the craft store and tried to avoid talking about both Adrien and Chat Noir, despite that being the subject on everyone in the city's lips. Not talking about didn't stop her from thinking about it. There were times with Cataclysm was vital to winning the day, so she had to find someone new to give the ring to.

"Marinette…," Kagami sighed when they parked in Marinette's building's garage. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just thinking about who we can trust with the ring now…Cataclysm can be vital to success sometimes, so it's best if we keep the ring in play…," she sighed. "But I can't think of anyone else that would really be a good fit for it…"

They carried the purchases from the craft store up to Marinette's room and she opened up the Grimoire file.

"What are you doing?"

"This is the Grimoire that I used to unlock everyone's powers and reset your Miraculous so you could have a new suit," she explained. "There's a section on combining Miraculous…like I used both the Rat and the Horse to get to your school so I could deliver that note…ah, here it is." She translated the page quickly, considering. She didn't want to make the team bigger and increase the risks, and out of the team the only one that was really a match for the cat was Kagami.

"How can you read that?"

"I was given a key to the code when I tried to get help," she sighed. "Oh good, they're compatible," she commented as she got to the list of unlocked forms that would happen if you combined the Cat with certain Miraculous. She flipped to the image of the section about the Dragon Miraculous. "Can I see your Miraculous for a minute?"

Kagami nodded and handed the choker to her. Marinette pulled the Cat Ring out of her purse and set the two Miraculous on her desk. She repeated the spell to herself several times before she invoked it over the two Miraculous. The two accessories began glowing and then merged together, turning the string of the Choker into a wider chain and the five pearls of its charged state each had tiny cat paws on them. She handed the choker to Kagami.

"What did you do…?"

"Combined the two Miraculous," she said lightly and Kagami put the choker on. Both Plagg and Longg appeared.

"Whoa, hey Marinette…," Plagg greeted. "What's going on?"

"I had to take the ring from Adrien," she told him. "And since there's no art in the Grimoire of what this combined Miraculous looks like, Hawkmoth will be none the wiser to what I did with the Ring. Now…according to this entry, your new transformation phrase would be something along the lines of 'Bring the Claws'?" she looked to the Kwami and they both nodded solemnly. "Let's see…your water form is now acidic…the air form has become a shadow form…and the lightning form has about the same effect as Cataclysm. Oh! And you have a new power on top of that. Black Storm…it's a power from the Cat Ring…it creates a storm of energy that can destroy a Sentimonster and purify the feather."

"Cool," Kagami laughed. "And it's nice to meet you, Plagg."

"I wish the feeling was mutual. Did you really have to take the ring from the kid, Marinette? What happened?" Plagg demanded. Marinette sighed and turned on the news. They were replaying footage of the near loss.

"It's a good thing for Paris that there are more heroes working with Ladybug now!" a reporter was saying as the video showed Chat Noir take that hit. He started to remove the ring. "Because otherwise, Adrien Agreste would have caused Hawkmoth to win today. What's really interesting is how each hero reacted to the reveal. I'm no facial analysist but that's not just shock…it looks almost like disappointment. And see how they all look at Ladybug as that mask falls? The ever-professional heroine barely gave a visual reaction and then they were on the Akuma faster than you could blink! I tell you when he took that blast, I had a figurative heart attack."

Plagg flew over and turned off the feed, looking more serious than Marinette had seen him in any of her previous interactions with him. He hadn't even looked this way when Reflekdoll had forced the Miraculous swap.

"Plagg?" Marinette hedged as he lowered himself to sit on the desk with his little legs folded.

"Have you talked to the Order about the situation?"

"They said that it was Fu's mess to clean," she ground out. "Never mind that I'm barely in Lycée…"

"And they didn't appoint anyone to supervise or mentor you?"

"Considering what happened with Festin…I'm not surprised…but they _did_ give me the code to translate the Grimoire. Otherwise I'm on my own with no adult guidance and only other teenagers that I know to help me…"

"That's not fair to any of us…," Kagami muttered.

"And it's stressful…that's why I revealed myself to all of you instead of being secretive about it…I can't keep going with all the secrets and no one to talk to."

"Then why didn't you tell Adrien?" Plagg demanded.

"Because of Chat Blanc," she sighed. "Bunnix and her blasted paradoxes…she dragged me into a future where Chat Noir knew my identity and he'd become Akumatized. Sure, I don't know all of the other things that led to that, but I had to control the _one thing_ I did know. And turns out it was a good idea to wait to tell him…he could have revealed my identity to Hawkmoth today…"

"Okay, fine…I get it," the Kwami sighed. "Fu put you in charge…and the Order left you to your own devices…" He flew over to Kagami. "I'm really not happy about this, but I understand your decision."

* * *

Adrien was pulled from school and his Instagram went dark. No one could get hold of him, not even Chloé. Ladybug and the 'new hero' Kageneko went to the Agreste home and barely managed to get allowed inside. The two girls went to Adrien's room with a young woman that had been hired. They could hear people talking on his TV about the big issue of the week.

"Adrien, there are heroes here to see you," the new secretary said lightly, knocking on his door. His door opened and the woman sighed. "You have half an hour, Ladybug."

"Thank you," she sighed, looking at Adrien. He looked like he'd been through hell in the last twenty-four hours. As he let them into his room, Ladybug took note that the windows were completely barricaded with the metal shutters of the house's security system. "Adrien…"

"If you just give me another chance, Ladybug--" he started and she held up a hand to silence him.

"All of Paris knows your identity, Adrien. Letting you keep the ring…one of the two that Hawkmoth is after…you, your family and friends, everyone in Paris even, it would put everyone at risk. We just came to give you a chance to talk to Plagg."

"I'll be borrowing your bathroom," Kageneko said lightly, heading that way. Ladybug moved to block the bathroom door as Plagg phased through it and flew over to Adrien.

"Sorry it has to be like this, Kid," the Kwami sighed.

"If I didn't take that hit for you--"

"I was about to dodge!" she snapped, cutting him off again. "We talked about this yesterday. And this wasn't the first time you've done something like that."

"Oh really? Name one time…"

"Dislocoeur and Maledikteur taking the blow for me when we both could have gotten out of the way. And there are several others* that are similar situations. One of the only times I couldn't have gotten out of the way when you jumped in was Chrono Girl. And that's not even touching on your tantrums that almost cost the day because you couldn't take no for an answer. Just because we were teammates…that doesn't mean that we were meant to be together. This isn't an Anime or TV drama. And I recently found out that you told that artist that we were dating? Then you acted like him getting Akumatized was solely because I didn't make it to that unveiling," she ranted. He opened his mouth as if to argue, but he only hung his head.

"And there was Syren…," Plagg muttered.

"Yeah, I hear from Plagg that you threatened to throw away the ring because I wouldn't tell you secrets that weren't mine to tell. While Paris was flooded and people were dying. You know if someone dies and stays dead for a certain length of time, my powers can _not_ bring them back? Now I might have been able to beat Syren on my own and win the day…but it may have been too late." He flinched at that. "And throwing a tantrum over secrets that weren't mine to tell at the time…or because my lack of a solid no on that date of yours was somehow playing with your feelings? Yes, I probably could have been clearer on my inability to be there, but you stood your friends up to wait for me when I said I couldn't come. I was surprised when I heard about that from Marinette that she wasn't the one Akumatized that day. She was devastated by you not showing up…but I guess she was already used to you dropping plans by then."

She took a steadying breath and went into the bathroom, leaning against the door. Kagami touched her shoulder gently and she smiled at her friend.

"Are you okay, Ladybug?" she asked quietly.

"I'm fine. Maybe I could have saved the rant…"

"No, don't do that to yourself. You have every right to vent your frustrations with him. And it's better he hears it from the source rather than twisted by the media," Kagami snapped at her. Plagg phased back through the door before Ladybug could say anything else to her.

"He _really_ needs a friend right now, Bug…," the Kwami sighed.

"Unfortunately, he's not getting that from us…," Kagami sighed before calling for her transformation. The two heroes stepped out of the bathroom and headed for the door to Adrien's room.

"Ladybug, I need to know…if my identity hadn't been revealed…would you have let me in on all the secrets?"

"I had been considering it…," she admitted. And she _had_ thought about it. "But then after I'd told you that I wouldn't be risking the other heroes' identities, you still tried to push for them and according to Plagg threw a small tantrum when you got home over being told no again…this last incident was just the icing on the cake." She said nothing else as she went into the hall and left the building with Kageneko.

When they got to the gate, there was a crowd of reporters and photographers waiting to catch a glimpse of the fired hero or his visitors. Lights started flashing and the two heroines waded into the crowd.

"Ladybug! Who's this new hero? Chat Noir's replacement?" one reporter managed to get to the front of the crowd and all the microphones and recorders were pointed at her.

"In a way, she is. The team and I decided it was too dangerous to keep the Ring in play," she said cordially, channelling every inch of the interview tips that Penny had given her.

"I'm going on patrol, Ladybug," Kageneko sighed.

"Okay, thanks for coming along for this meeting," she said lightly and the other hero leapt away. "I have time for a few questions, as long as they're not too personal."

"Did you bring her along because you were uncomfortable being alone with him? He does have a history of sexually harassing you…," one reporter spoke up.

"Yes, but not because of the supposed sexual harassment."

"Supposed? Ladybug, we have evidence of him attempting to kiss you on multiple occasions, along with his regular confessions and tantrums when you refuse him. On top of his claims to multiple people that you two were dating…"

"He always backed off when I said no to the kisses," she explained. "And with the rest…he's a sheltered teen who likely takes his social cues from Anime and TV. Hopefully with friends and the proper guidance he can correct those behaviours." Her yo-yo started beeping and she checked it. It was a call from Ivan. "One moment." She took the call. "I'm in the middle of an interview. Is there trouble?"

"Sort of…you're still outside his house, right?"

"Yes," she sighed.

"Okay, when you're done can you take a minute to talk to my parents? Suited up…"

"Sure," she agreed. "I'll be there in a little while. I promised the reporters a few more answers."

"Great. I'll see you in a bit." The call ended and she returned her attention to the reporters. They had a few more questions in a similar vein and she answered them as professionally as she could. Finally, they seemed satisfied and disbursed, so she went the long way to Ivan's apartment.

"Ladybug!" Mme Bruel greeted when she knocked on the apartment door. "I'm so glad you could come by. Please, come inside. Would you like something to drink?"

"No thank you, Mme Bruel," she said lightly and went inside. "When he got hold of me, Ivan said you wanted to talk?"

"Yes…you were just at his classmate Adrien's house, right…? Did everything seem…okay with his father?"

"Well, Gabriel was in his office doing something and his new secretary brought me and my new teammate to Adrien's room. I try to avoid digging into people's personal lives. But…the windows were barred and we were given half an hour to speak with him," she told the older woman. Ivan's parents both worked in the Child Welfare department and she knew they were only gathering information. Probably based on Ivan expressing concern. "I'm sure Ivan has classmates who are more aware of the situation…"

"You're right. Thank you for the little bit of information you do have. From what Ivan's told us and the fact that his father has the windows barred at the moment…we have enough evidence to move forward with a case to get Adrien into protective custody."

Ladybug nodded a little and turned to the door.

"I should be going, Mme Bruel," she sighed and the woman nodded.

"I understand," she said lightly and Ladybug left the apartment.

* * *

Gabriel's new secretary, Andria, was already at her wits end. The situation with the Agreste family was way worse than the office thought. She'd been sent to work undercover when Gabriel posted a job opening to replace his secretary, Nathalie Sancoeur, after the woman had taken an indefinite medical leave. Before she'd gone in for the first day, she'd done some research, pulling up Nathalie's medical records. She had a clean bill of health up until the first Sentimonster appeared, when she'd simply stopped even checking in with her eye doctor.

According to Adrien Agreste's Instagram feed, the secretary had been showing signs of a serious illness that he even said had been similar to something his mother had suffered with before her disappearance. And checking Emilie Graham de Vanilly's health records showed no evidence that she'd ever been ill. There was something strange going on with this family.

When she started, Gabriel disappeared into his office almost immediately after showing her to her desk and giving her a very terse lecture on her duties. She looked over his schedule and then Adrien's and was shocked at what she saw for the boy. Adrien's schedule was full with barely any time for himself.

School, Chinese lessons, fencing, piano lessons, hardly enough time to do his homework, and any moment that wasn't scheduled for a meal was dedicated to photo shoots. There was even a _Sunday_ that was entirely dedicated to photo shoots with different photographers, all the way until five in the morning. She looked for a bank account for Adrien and found nothing. Looking at Gabriel's finances, there wasn't even record of Adrien being compensated in cash.

She documented everything she found, saving copies of the information onto a flash drive. And then the email started blowing up with messages about Adrien being Chat Noir. She frowned and turned on the news. Sure, enough they were replaying footage of Chat Noir taking a hit that Ladybug was clearly poised to dodge and removing his Miraculous to hand over to the Akumatized villain. The new Bee heroine paralyzed him with her power just as his transformation fell away to reveal Adrien standing there frozen. Moments after the event was cleaned up, Gabriel stormed into the atelier where Andria was sifting through the emails.

"Pull him from school," he snapped.

"I'm sorry, what?" she questioned.

"There's a list of tutors, call them in and prepare the necessary documents to have his enrolment at Françoise DuPont dropped and for him to return to being home-schooled," he said harshly.

"Okay…," she muttered, wondering how Adrien being a superhero warranted being pulled from school. Two of the new heroes dropped Adrien off and Gabriel yelled at Adrien's bodyguard to escort the boy to his room. Barely a moment after the bodyguard left Adrien's room, she heard a metallic clank and an alert came up on the computer that the security system was engaged for that part of the house. Gabriel called her into the foyer and she made sure to have the voice recorder going on her phone.

"Adrien is not to leave his room except for meals and _only_ long enough for him to eat," Gabriel told them. Andria tried to keep her expression even as he continued detailing a plan to completely isolate his son.

When Ladybug showed up the next day, Gabriel firmly said that the hero only had half an hour to speak with Adrien. And shortly after the two visiting heroes left the building, Gabriel went to Adrien's room and Andria made a phone call to one of her co-workers in Child Welfare. Almost the moment she finished her call, a loud noise came from Adrien's room. She rushed to investigate and saw that the noise had come from the window and the metal barricade being blasted out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just FYI I have comment moderation on to avoid unwarranted or rude commentary. Sorry if that deters comments...but I've already had to delete several of these...one of which was not only unwarranted, but a gross misinterpretation of my salt.  
> *unnamed off screen Akuma because I have no doubts that it's a regular thing  
> Hit me up on [Tumblr](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/ask) or [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/nakirataisho)


	5. Of Parents and Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette gets Kitty Section some time with Jagged Stone

Adrien's Akuma form was easy enough to deal with. Hawkmoth didn't seem to have as much control with him as with his usual victims. They only had to look out for his explosive blasts and he actually seemed more disinterested in getting the Miraculous than simply venting about his father. The group of heroes admittedly let it drag out for a while, so long as there were no casualties and the destruction wasn't extensive, it was a chance for them to let him vent.

And when they'd been on the way, Skilpadde had mentioned wanting to try and buy some time for Child Welfare to take their own actions. As the opportunity presented itself, he explained to Ladybug and the others that an agent from the agency had been dispatched right before the team was properly formed to get evidence against Gabriel to get Adrien out of what they determined was a potentially dangerous situation. She didn't say anything, but Ladybug was very happy that Ivan's parents had taken the subtle hints of Ivan and their classmates about Adrien's situation.

Of course, Nino had been the most vocal about it, but she knew that everyone had concerns about his schedule. In fact, the only one that _hadn't_ said anything (besides Lila the gold digger) had been Chloe, but that was because Chloe didn't really care about anyone but herself, which was why the brat had gone to New York with her mother at long last.

Either way, they were stalling for time while Child Welfare got the police to Adrien's house and Gabriel arrested. While he was guarding civilians and the others were barely engaging Adrien, putting on a show for civilians watching but making sure they didn't make the boy feel cornered so as to lash out. Ladybug moved to the side and opened her yo-yo, checking the news. She found that coverage was splitting between the fight and Adrien's house.

"In an unexpected turn of events, the heroes seem to be taking their time with this most recent Akuma. This latest victim of Hawkmoth has been confirmed by a Child Welfare agent to be none other than former superhero Adrien Agreste. And while the heroes are keeping him occupied, police have stormed the Agreste mansion. I'm here with the agent that made the call, Andria Mauvais. Mme Mauvais, would you care to give us some more information on this case?"

"Adrien's privacy has been invaded far too much since his reveal as Chat Noir," the woman sighed. "But we've been conducting an investigation on Gabriel Agreste for several months and now we have actual evidence to detain Gabriel and get Adrien to a safer home."

"There's no sign of Agreste," a police officer sighed, joining them. Ladybug frowned and put her yo-yo down.

"Guys we need to wrap this up," she sighed. All four of her teammates nodded. "Skilpadde and Sionnach, try and avoid using your powers so you can take him home. There's a Child Welfare agent waiting to get him to a safe location."

"Roger that, Ladybug!" the two boys agreed and they launched into an attack. As if he'd gotten the frustration out of his system, Adrien didn't struggle and even handed over the item with the Akuma. Ladybug captured the Akuma and fixed what little damage had been done. The boys stayed behind to help Adrien get his bearings and took him home. Ladybug and the other girls parted ways and headed home.

* * *

Adrien had been taken in by the Bruel family after his aunt had declined taking over as his guardian. Gabriel quickly became Paris' second most wanted man, all of his assets frozen as they added 'evading arrest' to his list of charges. And when they all went to class the next day, everyone except for Lila gave Adrien plenty of space. She latched onto him as always, lamenting all the 'drama' over the weekend. Marinette stood and started to say something, but Ivan beat her to the punch, placing a hand on Lila's shoulder.

"Give him some space for once, Lila," the larger boy growled.

"But as his girlfriend--"

"You are _not_ my girlfriend!" Adrien shouted, slapping her hand off of his arm.

"Seriously Lila, don't you think he's had to deal with enough the last few days?" Marinette snapped.

"Marinette…," Alya groaned. Fortunately, Lila backed off and went to her seat at the back of the room.

"You saw the news. _Lila_ was the Akuma that zapped him on Saturday," she said sharply. "But anyways. While I have all of you here, Jagged agreed to sit in on a Kitty Section practice," she told Ivan and the others.

"Sweet!" Ivan exclaimed. "We're meeting up at my place after school if he's free."

"I'll double check with Penny during lunch," she promised. "And I was talking with his new producer, we might be able to talk to everyone's parents and get you guys a record deal."

"You shouldn't drop names of people you don't know or make promises you can't keep, Marinette," Lila chided and she smirked.

"Really? I had no idea," she said, making sure her sarcasm came across clearly. Their teacher came into the room and called everyone to order.

* * *

After school, Marinette went to the Hotel to meet with Jagged. She was stopped at the door by an unfamiliar doorman.

"Excuse me, Miss, what's your business here?"

"I have an appointment with Jagged Stone," she said lightly. "My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng." His eyes lit up when she said her name and he stepped aside, allowing the door to open for her. "By the way, where's Claus? He's usually here at this time of day."

"He's on paternity leave, Mlle Dupain-Cheng. He and his husband just adopted a baby," he replied.

"Oh, that's great! I remember he mentioned that a while back. I'll have to make sure Elois passes my congratulations to them." She headed inside to do just that.

"Hello Marinette!" Elois greeted. "Did you hear about Claus and his husband?"

"Yes!" she said brightly. "Will you pass my congratulations on to them?"

"Of course. Are you here for a fitting with Jagged? You don't have your bag with you…"

"No, I'm actually here to pick him up for something," she laughed. "He wanted to sit in on a practice with this indie band that a few friends of mine put together."

"I see, well have fun!" Elois laughed and went back to work. Marinette went to the elevator and up to Jagged's floor. When she made it to his room, he started gushing about their outing.

"The producer wants to know if your friends would be willing to give Jagged a demo recording while you're there," Penny said lightly.

"I'll ask them," she laughed.

"Do you need the car?"

"No, I have a Vespa and an extra helmet." Penny nodded and handed her a business card.

"So their parents can get in contact with the producer before the demo's heard," Penny explained.

"I'll make sure to bring it up," she said, pocketing the card. "Let's go, Jagged." He nodded and they headed downstairs and out to Marinette's waiting Vespa. After they had their helmets on, she drove to the apartment. When they got there, Mme and Mr Bruel were getting ready to head out.

"Oh, my goodness," Mme Bruel gasped when she opened the door to let them in. "I almost didn't believe Ivan and Adrien when they said they were expecting _Jagged Stone_ for practice."

"Dear, we'll be late for the show," Mr Bruel laughed. "We have to pick up our tickets before the doors open."

"Oh right, have fun kids! We'll be back after the play." And with that, the two adults left the apartment.

"They sure it's okay to leave me alone with you and your friends?" Jagged whispered before they went inside.

"It's fine," she assured him, pulling him inside. Rose and Mylène were already there. "Come on, I want you to meet everyone before they get started!" The group was in the process of setting up their instruments in the living room. "Juleka and Luka on their way?"

"Yeah, they were going to stop and get some snacks on the way," Rose said with her usual brightness.

"Then they should be here soon," she laughed. "So, Jagged, this is Ivan, he plays the drums for Kitty Section, Rose here is the lead singer, and that's Ivan's girlfriend Mylène, she helps them get set up…and this is Adrien, he plays the keyboard," she introduced them. "And you guys already know who Jagged is."

"Nice to meet you!" Rose laughed. "And here it was no one believed you when we were talking about this earlier. Especially after Lila piped in…"

"Well, we can get a picture after the others get here to prove it to her," Ivan suggested. "Pics or it didn't happen, right?"

"Who's Lila?" Jagged asked.

"Lila Rossi? You…wrote a song about her a while back?" Mylène provided.

"Lila Rossi…," he trailed off tapping his chin. Marinette stifled a giggle. They had _just_ talked about the issue with Lila at their last fitting. "Never heard of her. And there are only two people I really write songs about," he laughed. "I'm tempted to write one about this li'l lady right here," he added, ruffling Marinette's hair. She promptly went scarlet and all mention of Lila was pushed aside in favour of them poking fun at her embarrassment.

"You're turning into a tomato, Marinette," Ivan laughed and she tried to cover her face and the deepening blush. "Anyways, while we wait for the rest of the band to get here, you want something to drink Mr Stone? We have some strawberry-lemon tonic…trust me it tastes better than it sounds…"

"Sure! But, just Jagged. Any friend of Marinette's is a friend of mine," he laughed. Ivan nodded and went to the kitchen. Just as he returned with a fizzing pink drink, the door opened.

"Oh wow, you really pulled through for us, Marinette," Juleka gasped and Marinette grinned at them.

"Of course!"

"Marinette was making me a new outfit for my next music video and I overheard the song she was listening to. She let me listen to it and told me all about your awesome little band! Of course, I had to come check you guys out in person!"

"And his new producer heard a bit of the song and wants to know if you guys can send over a demo with Jagged. I also brought their number if you guys wanted to let your parents talk to them first," Marinette added, pulling out the business card.

"You…think we're awesome?" Luka asked softly, clearly embarrassed. Jagged nodded and took a sip from his drink.

"And so is this drink!"

"Thanks…my mom makes it," Ivan said lightly. Marinette cleared her throat a little.

"So anyways, Jagged…this is Juleka," she indicated Juleka. "She plays bass, and her brother Luka plays the guitar." She took the snacks from Juleka and the band finished setting up. "So, do you guys mind if I record on my phone so the producer can listen?" They talked amongst themselves for a minute before they all nodded.

"Go ahead, Marinette," he said lightly and she sat on the couch, pulling out her phone. Jagged sat beside her and the band promptly started practicing a new song that Rose had written up. She had to stop herself from laughing as Jagged got really into it. When they finished the song, she ended the recording and texted it to the producer. They replied with a thumbs up.

"Okay, they got it," she said brightly as Jagged jumped up and started raving to the group about the song. As he chattered, she couldn't help but notice just how similar Jagged looked to Luka and Juleka. She'd noticed it before, but it just seemed like a coincidence until they were all right next to each other. Her phone went off at the same time as Jagged's and she stepped away to answer.

"Hey Marinette," Kagami greeted. "Are you free for dinner?"

"Well, I'm about to take Jagged back to the hotel, but yeah," she replied just as Jagged started inviting the band to dinner. "Oh great…hold that thought Kagami…" Before she could say anything, the band members were agreeing and they were packing up to head out. "Maybe we can swing this…Hey Jagged, can my friend Kagami join us?" Jagged gave an enthusiastic 'the more the merrier'.

"I kind of wanted it to be just the two of us…," Kagami sighed, a clear pout in her tone.

"Maybe we can sit at a separate table…? I promised Penny I'd keep an eye on Jagged…"

"He's an adult, he can handle himself."

"He's also a celebrity and he needs someone…," she paused, fishing for the right word. "That _gets_ him around…look, just meet us at Le Bistro Gusteau…"

"Okay…I'll see you there," Kagami said, ending the call.

"So, this is going to be interesting…I think Kagami was trying to ask me on a date…," she mumbled.

"Well, Penny's coming, so you two can sit at a different table," Jagged laughed. "She's also bringing the limo." Luka and Juleka grabbed their instruments while Rose tucked her toy microphone in her bag. They group went downstairs and made it to the street just as a limo was pulling up. Penny opened the door and greeted them all and the group piled into the car. There wasn't room for everyone, so Mylène went with Marinette to the Vespa. Marinette followed the car on her Vespa, thinking about how similar Jagged looked to her friends.

"This was really cool of you, Marinette," Mylène praised when they arrived at the restaurant. "It's weird that Jagged doesn't know Lila though…"

"Is it really? For one, you know that he's allergic to pet dander and has never had a cat?"

"But why would Lila lie?"

"Who knows? I just know that just about everything she's told everyone is a lie. All it takes is a quick google search, really…," she sighed.

"If you know she's lying, why let everyone keep believing her?" Mylène asked, sounding betrayed.

"I've tried countless times to warn you guys about her. I just got tired of being ignored or treated like I was picking on her." A red car pulled up and she rushed to go greet Kagami.

"Have her home before ten," Mme Tsurugi instructed when she opened the door for Kagami.

"Of course, Tsurugi-dono," she promised. The older woman paused, but smiled a little and Marinette pulled Kagami to the others. Just as they were about to go inside, the ground rumbled. Alarms started going off and people rushed to find shelter. Marinette used the chaos to slip away and she transformed the moment she was away from witnesses.

* * *

Adrien rubbed his ring finger, wishing he could go off and transform to help. Part of him understood why Ladybug had taken the ring from him, but another part of him almost hated her for it. Especially when he knew that she'd given the ring to someone else almost immediately. At least she'd come over and let him properly say goodbye to Plagg. So, he did what he could and tried to help get people to shelter.

* * *

Getting away was hard for the members of Kitty Section. Luka managed just fine, but Juleka didn't want to leave Rose alone. Considering the giant mech on the approach, she hoped that Ladybug and her brother could handle it. She saw a streak of black as Kageneko swooped in to help and she waited to see if Skilpadde would join the fight. There was no sign of the large turtle hero and she worried her lip.

Beside her, Ivan was sheltering Mylène. Jagged and Penny had taken refuge behind him.

"Don't worry, Jules," Rose encouraged. "Ladybug and the heroes will save the day, like always. But I wonder where Beach Mheala is…she's so cute I'd love to see her in person…" Juleka went scarlet and she hid behind her hair.

"Wait, where's Adrien?" she gasped, realizing that he was missing.

"I'll text him," Ivan sighed, pulling out his phone to do just that. "He's still at the restaurant, hiding with another group," he said after a moment, sighing in relief.

Ladybugs filled the air after a moment and Juleka relaxed. The others had it under control. She felt a little bad for not trying to go transform, but Marinette had told her that she didn't _have_ to fight if she couldn't get away. Good things about having a slightly bigger team.

"Juleka? Are you okay?" Penny asked as they went back to the restaurant.

"Yeah, I'm fine…," she sighed. "It's just kinda scary being so close to the action."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit me up on [Tumblr](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/ask) or [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/nakirataisho)


	6. Social Media Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pics or it didn't happen, right?

Photos had been posted to Instagram of the outing. And then [Alya posted](https://www.instagram.com/p/B5YLNYCh0Ej/) on her own Instagram in response to several comments about how her posts were painting Marinette to potential buyers. Her mother said something to her, concerned about how her friends seemed to be acting. She'd asked Alya to stop jabbing at her clumsy moments on a public platform that could impact _both_ of their futures. Sure, she could handle the heckling on the day-to-day, but that was when everything was private.

And in hindsight, particularly reading comments like 'just because she _can_ take it, doesn't mean she has to' and 'did you get her consent to post those shots?' made her think about everything. She told her parents everything and she was honestly shocked to see the absolute horror on their faces. So, she set to work on fixing the problem that she hadn't been fully aware of.

After all, she couldn't talk to Alya as Ladybug when it wasn't her alter ego that had been wronged. And she had to do it in a way that would get through to Alya. So, she turned to Social Media. Pics or it didn't happen, right?

The picture with Kitty Section and Jagged was just the beginning. That was on the rock star's Instagram, captioned with a slew of hashtags praising the indie group and designer that had introduced them. And the timing was perfect.

By Saturday, her parents (and the parents of the Kitty Section members) had signed off on a contract for Marinette with BiLez Records and she made plans with Kitty Section to sign together on her vlog. So, they all met up at the studio with Jagged and Penny. Clara Rossignol was also there, gossiping with a few other artists that Marinette hadn't met. When they were all gathered, she turned on her camera to livestream on YouTube.

"Hey guys!" she greeted her viewers. "I'm so excited about today's plans! I'm sure by now everyone's heard of the new record company that Jagged Stone recently put on the map, BiLez Records, and I'm waiting in line with Kitty Section and several others to sign my first ever official design contract. Not to brag, but this'll make me one of the youngest professional designers in any industry! Obviously, I can't film in the signing, for security reasons, but censored pictures will be posted on my Instagram."

She panned her phone carefully to show the members of Kitty Section but keep everyone else in line out of the shot. She didn't want to put people she didn't know on her blog without their consent. Jagged Stone rushed up to her and slung his arm around her shoulders when she started giving more updates to her viewers.

"Hello fans of Marinette!" he greeted and Marinette went scarlet.

"Jagged please…," she mumbled.

"You know this most amazing designer in Paris agreed to be my Design Team Lead?" he gushed and she tried to hide her face. He grinned and backed off, ruffling her hair before he went back to the crowd of artists.

"He's so embarrassing sometimes…," she moaned. "Anyways, they're starting to let people in for signing, so I'll check in with you guys next time! Keep an eye on my Instagram for more up-to-the-minute updates!" she ended the stream and put her phone away.

* * *

As she'd promised, she took plenty of photos during the signing. One of herself signing her own contract (taken by Jagged), one with Jagged taken by Penny, and one of the Kitty Section members signing their own contract.

A censored version of the photo of her signing was posted to Instagram with 'Just got my first official job! You're looking at @jaggedrocknroll's official Design Team Lead! #rocknroll #professionaldesigner #newjob' for the caption. She captioned her shot with Jagged as 'Working with my fave rocker @jaggedrocknroll on the daily's gonna be Rock 'n Roll! #newjob #professionaldesigner #designingforarocker'. And finally, the picture of Kitty Section was posted and captioned as 'New all-star rockers on the scene! #contractshavebeensigned #lifechangingmoments'.

The two posts about herself and Jagged blew up almost instantly, with Clara out in the lobby spamming her entire feed with likes and comments.

Her photo with Jagged had the funniest comment of them all. '🎶🎉 First steps for a wonderful artist. Maybe you'll join another top chartist?' Marinette grinned at that terrible rhyme. When she left the signing room, she stuck out her tongue at Clara who retaliated with one of the goofiest anime style visual taunts she could muster and she could have sworn someone snapped a photo. She looked to see Rose with her phone up.

"Can I post this? Because it's just too cute!" the blonde gushed. Clara laughed and nodded.

"Sure, why not?" Marinette laughed. Within a moment, she got a notification of being mentioned by one @iloveunicornsandroses with the picture.

'Friendly taunting at the big signing event from @rhymingrossignol and @marinettedesigned! #secretbestiesiguess #socute' was Rose's caption and both of them got a good laugh.

"So, do you guys wanna go get some lunch?" Juleka asked.

"Can I come along?" Clara asked.

"Sure!" Rose gasped.

"I'll have to pass," Marinette sighed. "Kagami and I already made plans to get ice cream."

"Ooh, are you two dating?" Rose gushed, bouncing a little. She blushed and glanced at Luka. He simply smiled at her.

"No…we're just friends…," she sighed.

"For now," Juleka joked. Her blush deepened and she fled the studio. Before she made it to Kagami's to pick her up, Rose and Clara both updated their Instagram with photos of Kitty Section and Clara on their lunch outing. Clara's most liked post that day 'Spending time with new friends. #instantlyfollowed' included her @mentioning everyone in the band and her friends' follow counts increasing. Rose's most liked was a photo of her and Clara comparing song lyrics 'I smell a rocking collab…loving this new friend. #meetingnewpeople #songwriting'

* * *

Monday at school everyone was buzzing about her posts. Several of them were also raving about how Clara had commented on her post 'like they were friends'. Fortunately, she was running a little late, so no one had time to really stop her to try and talk to her. Her class started applauding her when she entered the classroom though.

"Congrats on the job, Marinette!" Adrien said with a grin.

"How'd you manage to get the job?" Kim asked.

"Well, it wasn't hard," she laughed. "Jagged's been commissioning me for a while. Ever since I made those sunglasses for him. You know, the Eiffel Tower ones that have been pretty much his exclusive shades since he came back to Paris?" A glance at the back of the room showed her that Lila was absolutely seething in her seat. "It's just lucky that I already built up a reputation with him and Clara before I started using Instagram," she said lightly before sitting down with Alya.

"Was that a jab?" Alya demanded.

"Of course, it wasn't a jab at the embarrassing photos you post of me without my consent," she said sweetly. She had no idea what was coming over her, or maybe she did. Jagged and her mother both had told her that she didn't have to take more than she was _willing to_. "I mean, it's not like at least two of the biggest names in Fashion follow me and the things I'm mentioned and photographed in could affect my business prospects later on," she finished with a shrug, pulling out her bag.

"Congrats, Marinette," Lila said finally as the classroom fell into a shocked silence at her comments. She glanced at her classmate, quirking an eyebrow. "I mean, being Jagged's head designer isn't as amazing as…you know…getting world leaders to agree on a plan to help with Climate Change…but…," she trailed off with a shrug.

"Pics, or it didn't happen," she bit. "I mean, Prince Ali is visiting for a Climate Summit. Jagged and Clara are providing entertainment for the dignitaries, so I'll be there. Surely you have an invitation as well, being such an influence with the dignitaries?" she challenged. "I'll be live on TikTok most of the night and I'm sure my followers would love to see you."

"Of course, I do!" Lila gasped. "Are you insinuating that I've been lying?"

"Well considering I mentioned you to Jagged over lunch after I signed with him and he hadn't even heard your name before? That's _exactly what I'm saying_."

"Well, I'm telling the truth," Lila argued. "And if Jagged supposedly told you that he's never heard of me when I saved his cherished puppy…maybe you photoshopped those photos in your post," she accused.

"Didn't she say it was a kitten before?" she heard Rose stage whisper to Juleka.

"Of course, I have a few commission slots open outside of my contracted work, we could get together before I go to the hotel to meet with Jagged and Prince Ali about _their_ commissions for the Gala, Lila," she offered sweetly, diverting the topic back to the gala before Ivan brought up Rose's post and their own picture from the event.

"Are you sure that's a good idea…you know…trying to talk to the prince like that?" Alya murmured. Marinette smirked and pulled up her Instagram feed. She selected the right comment on her photo with Jagged and showed it to Alya.

'I will be Paris for a Climate Summit this week, maybe you will have time to talk about surprise? (rate translation)'

"Maybe he wants me to make a surprise for Lila, so maybe I should come back to that offer," she said aloud, relishing Alya's dumbfounded expression.

* * *

The surprise was a dress for Rose. Prince Ali was inviting her and a friend to the Gala that weekend. To get the small details, she _did_ cheat and used the Rat Miraculous to shrink down and multiply. She also made a suit for Juleka, knowing that Rose would want to go with her girlfriend. The day after her meeting with the Prince, Marinette dragged the duo to one of the many restaurants that were very exclusive and expensive. Of course, she wasn't going to tell them that she was already finished with the outfits because finishing two very detailed formal outfits in eight hours was nearly impossible even for the most experienced creators.

"We're meeting someone here," she told the host.

"Your name?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng," she provided.

"Come with me," the host sighed and led them to a table. The prince stood when they reached the table and rushed to pull out chairs. It was a process, but they all were seated.

"Are you all hungry?" he asked, indicating the menus on the table. "Order whatever you would like."

"I'd like a Chai Latte and the Lobster lunch special," Marinette told the server. Rose's already wide eyes practically bulged in her shock. Marinette hadn't even ordered the most expensive lunch on the menu, no that was the Kobe Steak platter that you had to schedule with your table.

"I'll have a Strawberry Crème and the Shrimp and Steak…medium," the prince said lightly.

"Um…ooh you have Orange Blossom soda!" Rose gasped. "I'll try that and a rare steak salad." Juleka mumbled something and the server somehow managed to understand what she'd ordered. "So…," Rose started when their server left to get the drinks. "Why did you invite us out, Prince Ali?"

"Please," he laughed. "To my friends, I am only Ali. And I wanted to have lunch with you while I am in Paris and have the time. I also wanted to give you this." He pulled out an envelope and offered it to Rose.

"Really? Surely you would have wanted to spend time with Lila…she's a good friend, right?" Rose commented as she opened the envelope.

"Who?"

"She's our classmate. I mentioned her to you yesterday when we were discussing the dress," Marinette provided, seeing that both of her friends shared a blank look, though she knew they weren't surprised. "What's in the envelope, Rose?"

"Let's see…a note?" Rose pulled the papers out of the envelope. " _You are cordially invited to the Climate Action Commemorative Gala to be held at the Gran Palais on Saturday the twenty-eighth of September as the personal guest of the Crown Prince of Achu_ ," she read. "Wait…you mean…"

"Will you accept the invitation? There is no one else I would like to invite besides my first friend outside of home."

"Can I bring my girlfriend?"

"Of course! It is a 'plus one' event."

"This is…oh my gosh…what will we wear?!"

"Ali already commissioned a dress from me for you to wear," Marinette laughed, pulling out her sketchbook. "That's why I was happy to be able to bump into him when I was meeting with Jagged yesterday." She showed off the design sketches for the couple's outfits.

"These are amazing, Marinette," Juleka gasped.

"Thanks. And in less than an hour after mentioning online that I could open three commission slots for Gala outfits, there were so many interested that I had to do a raffle and close the slots.

"Amazing what'll happen when you finally share your celebrity connections online," Rose laughed.

* * *

Marinette had no idea why she was nervous about asking Kagami to be her plus one for the Gala. They were friends and it wasn't a date, per say ~~not that she wouldn't be okay with it being a date~~. Of course, she was also nervous about Kagami's overprotective mother refusing to allow Kagami to attend, even if she'd loosened up about letting Kagami get out of the house.

She came to the large estate after leaving Rose and Juleka with the Prince at the Louvre. Rose's Instagram was updated with a selfie taken with the Prince and Juleka 'Hanging out with @princealiachu after a great lunch! #icouldgetusedtothis #celeblyfe #jkbutnotreally'. Smiling at her friend's antics, Marinette went to the gate and rang the bell.

"Do you have an appointment?" a voice snapped over the speaker and Marinette sighed.

"Not exactly," she said lightly. "I came to see Kagami," she told the box.

"Come in," the voice sighed and the gate swung open. Marinette smiled and went inside. Kagami rushed out of the house and to Marinette.

"Why didn't you text me?" she demanded quietly.

"I have something to ask you and I didn't want to do that over text. And I know this is about the time you work on practicing your fencing," she explained as Kagami led her to what was clearly a training area. Kagami's mother was sitting on a bench, tapping her bokken impatiently.

"Interruptions are not appreciated, young lady," Mme Tsurugi snapped.

"I'm sorry," she sighed. "I didn't mean to interrupt practice. But you know…can I join? Mr D'Argencourt mentioned that I might be able to try again to join the team with a bit of extra practice. Especially with Adrien's slot opening up…"

"It's fine," Kagami stressed. "I train alone all the time. It'll be good for my technique to train with someone else for a little while."

"Very well."

"Great! I'll get you a weapon. Do you want to train with a fencing sabre or try out a bokken?"

"Bokken are heavier, right?" she asked and Kagami nodded. "The bokken then. Practicing with a heavier weapon could help my speed in matches."

"Clever reasoning," Mme Tsurugi noted. "I recognize your voice…you're Marinette, correct?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Marinette said, bowing a little automatically. "I'm…the one that answered Kagami's phone during the Friendship Day event…"

"Ah. You're also the one that Kagami has been spending so much time with. And you are part of Kagami's fencing class?"

"I'm in the beginner's course, but Mr D'Argencourt recommended that I practice with her for the upcoming trials to join the competitive team," she explained as Kagami fetched the weapons. "I asked Adrien, but he's dropping Fencing to focus on music and other stuff now that he has the choice…"

"I see."

Kagami got back and handed one of the bokken to Marinette. She took a moment to get used to the weapon before they started going through some drills.

* * *

Several hours passed before Marinette realized it. A sharp tapping on the ground and Kagami stopped mid-swing. Marinette barely managed to pause her own strike in time to avoid hitting Kagami.

"Would you like to join us for tea, Marinette?" Tomoe offered.

"Tea sounds nice," she said lightly and suddenly the invitation in her purse seemed to be screaming at her. She went to get her purse and opened it. "But um…I had another reason for coming by, actually…there's a big Gala after the UN summit this week…and I was wondering if Kagami could be my guest?" she asked, hoping that her wording had kept the request platonic. She knew that Tomoe was very strict and she didn't want to give off the impression that she was asking Kagami out on an actual date. Just in case the older woman was resolutely against her daughter dating another girl.

"Very well," was all Tomoe said. "Kagami, you'll take the time to coordinate your attire for the event with Marinette's."

"Of course!" Kagami gasped. "It'll be exciting to go to an event with someone besides Adrien. But how did you manage to get an invitation?"

"Jagged Stone and Clara Rossignol are providing the entertainment and I'm going to be there to direct their wardrobe teams."

"You? You can't be much older than Kagami…"

"Well, if Kagami was born in the year of the Dragon…and I was born under the Metal Snake…I'm actually younger than Kagami by a few months. I'm the youngest designer to land a job like this…"

"I see. Then you are to be commended. For the moment, shall we have our tea?"

* * *

By the time she had her next fencing class, she was halfway through all of her commissions, grateful for the team of costumers she now had at her disposal to translate her sketches and the corresponding measurements into actual outfits. With so many projects to finish within the two-week window that she had, she needed all the help she could get, especially when her own work kept getting interrupted by Akuma attacks. And she had a _lot_ to do. The three outfits from her raffle, Jagged and Clara's clothes, Kagami's dress, _and_ her grandparents had surprised her with the gift of them buying out the Gabriel brand right before it went bankrupt due to Gabriel being missing and having warrants for his arrest.

She came into the gym for practice with her hair in a messy bun and her classmates noted how 'frazzled' she looked. Mr D'Argencourt even asked if she would like to sit out on the practice. She'd declined his offer of rest and changed into her fencing gear.

After the practice, she felt a lot better. Fencing was a good way to decompress and step out of all of her (sometimes self-inflicted) responsibilities. After a quick shower, she went straight back to work on her projects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit me up on [Tumblr](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/ask) or [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/nakirataisho)


	7. The Gala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> #WheresLila

That Friday, Marinette went to the school with several notes in hand. Her parents had already made arrangements for her to be excused from all but exams so she could take care of her work. They were also looking into her testing out of Lycée so she wouldn't have to worry about school at all. And despite everything that was going on, she was surprisingly less stressed than her tousled and tired appearance would imply. She stepped into her classroom just as the class was being dismissed.

"Nice of you to finally join us," Lila laughed.

"We've made arrangements with Marinette and her family to accommodate her new job," Mme Bustier said brightly. "As long as she makes it to exams, it's fine. What brings you by, Marinette?"

"Well, it's short notice, but with everything that's been going on…," she said lightly. "Don't worry about what to wear, I've already gotten with your families about that," she explained as she handed notes to Nino and Alya. "And Adrien…Jagged asked me to invite you, but if you're not up for it, it's not a big deal."

"Seriously?" Alya gasped, looking over the note. "Why us though?"

"Well, you're my best friend," she said lightly. She glanced at Rose and Juleka to see them smirking. Everything was about to come to a head with Lila's lies and she was giving Alya a front row seat. "So, the limo will come to your buildings between five and six tomorrow to pick you guys up."

"This is awesome, Marinette," Nino laughed. "Guess we'll see you there, Lila."

"Of course! But really, Marinette, flaunting your new fame like this? How droll."

"Oh, trust me, this isn't new," she sighed. "I'm just tired of hiding it when _some people_ like throwing names around like it's candy. See you guys tomorrow." She turned heel and left the classroom.

* * *

The next day, Marinette got a message from Adrien that he could make it to the gala and she let the driver know to get him after all. And she headed over to the Bruel's apartment to drop off Adrien's suit before she went to Kagami's to get ready. Her mother had already fixed her hair for the most part, she just had a couple of finishing touches to do once she took her helmet off.

She pulled up to the Tsurugi estate and the gate opened for her so she drove right on in and found a place to park her Vespa. Kagami met her in the yard, being chased by a stylist who was griping about Kagami running around in her underwear. Marinette took her helmet off and got her makeup bag out of the seat compartment before grabbing the garment bags from the stand she'd attached to her Vespa.

"Marinette, you will never believe this!" Kagami gasped.

"Miss Kagami, your makeup!" the stylist tried.

"What's wrong, Kagami?" Marinette sighed, starting for the main house.

"Is this a date?" Marinette stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Kagami.

"What?" she gasped.

"When my mother got the stylists in to get my makeup and hair taken care of, she was going on about 'making me look nice for my first date'," Kagami explained. "Is that what this is?"

"A _date_ …? Well um…I wouldn't _mind_ if it was an official date but…I kind of had something else in mind for a 'first date' than a big gala that I only landed an invite to because of a job…," she trailed off, blushing.

"So, you _would_ want to go on a date with me?"

"Only if you want to…," she mumbled. "A-Anyways…um…clothes hair and makeup…we need to get ready…I have to be there early to make sure everything's right for Jagged and Clara.

"I'm starting to think people already think we're dating," Kagami sighed. "And yes, I would want to. So, what did you bring in those bags?"

"Our dresses," she laughed, holding up the garment bags. "And my makeup. "I got my first check from the record producer…they called it 'back payments' for other projects while Jagged was still with Bob Roth Records…"

"This producer sounds really nice."

"Nice? They're in the process of getting Bob Roth shut down entirely for his antics. You know I should have been paid royalties for the album covers that I've designed for Jagged? That's what this first check was for…but anyways…"

They got to Kagami's room and Marinette opened up the garment bags. She laid out Kagami's outfit, which was a red silk Furisode that Marinette had painstakingly embroidered a soft floral pattern on with an intricate apple blossom tree to tie in with Marinette's Hanfu.

"This looks amazing, Marinette! Did you do the embroidery yourself?"

"Well, I had some little helpers to get it done in time," she laughed, tapping her earrings before unveiling her own outfit.

"Of course, you did, I don't know why I asked…," Kagami laughed before letting the stylist go back to fixing her makeup and hair.

Marinette took a few minutes to straighten out Kagami's kimono and then moved to her own, separating the many pieces it comprised of. She'd gone with a style mostly found in Chinese dramas, with the outer pieces comprised mostly of Chiffon. There was a red silk tank top with white blossoms, a flowing white silk skirt, a gold silk shirt, a peach chiffon blouse, the red chiffon wrap around skirt that she'd pleated mildly and embroidered delicate tree branches with apple blossoms, a red silk sash with a gold braid was to hold everything together and the final touch was a peach chiffon coat with white blossoms barely visible. The last thing she pulled from her bag was the hair pin that her mother's āyí had sent her for her twelfth Lunar New Year.

When she was finished laying out the pieces, Marinette put on the first layer of her Hanfu and grabbed her makeup bag. She sat in front of a mirror and laid her makeup supplies out and got started. While she carefully used a brush to apply her eyeliner, she could see Kagami watching her intently in the mirror.

"I can't concentrate with you watching like that, Kagami…," she muttered. Kagami almost immediately moved out of the mirror.

"Sorry…I've never seen someone putting on their own makeup before…is it hard?"

"It was at first…," she sighed, finishing up on her eyes. "My mother's āyí taught me when we were celebrating the Lunar New Year with the family at the old home in Lanxia. And when we would visit, my biǎo jiě would pretend to be an old matchmaker…and all of us younger ones would dress up and the older cousins would do our makeup like we were ancient princesses off to meet princely suitors…it was so much fun," she recalled, carefully painting the rest of her makeup on. She kept it simple for the event, and when she was finished, she carefully put the finishing touches on her hair and slid the hair pin into place.

"Oh wow…you look amazing," Kagami gasped. The stylist eyed their clothes and cleared her throat. "Oh right…we should probably finish getting ready."

* * *

By the time the gala was in full swing, the only member of Marinette's class that was supposed to be there but wasn't was Lila. She honestly wasn't surprised with as many celebrities as would be there. The group of friends posed for pictures and Adrien was the first to post on Instagram. Marinette was already live on TikTok and was busy answering some questions for her followers and showing off her stage design for the entertainment.

She got a notification from Instagram and ended her stream, citing a need to mingle. Adrien had posted a photo with Alya and Nino. 'All of our classmates but one that got an invite are here and wow this is some event! #climategala #whereslila'

Marinette chuckled at his hashtag about Lila and then Rose posted a pic with Juleka and Prince Ali. 'So excited to be @princealiachu's guest for such an important event! #climategala #missingaclassmatetho #whereslila' was her caption and Marinette got a feeling that tag would start trending when Juleka got in on it and even Kagami (who had only heard of the liar) posted with the tag. Alya and Nino both posted with the tag hoping that everything was okay.

"That feel when someone with an invite dodges an event to avoid being outed as a liar…," she sighed. Clara laughed behind her.

"So, this Lila person actually has an invitation?" the singer laughed.

"Yeah. Her mom works at the embassy and scored an invitation for the two of them. But with so many of our classmates here, I guess she didn't want to risk embarrassing herself. Unfortunately, her absence isn't going to help her case…"

"I see…," Clara mumbled and pulled out her phone. Jagged bounced over and all but made Marinette pose for a picture. He posted the picture to Instagram 'Look how awesomely talented my head designer @marinettedesigned is guys! #climategala #betshedidallthatembroideryfromscratch #herclassmatelilasmissingout #whereslila #wait #whoslila'

"Jagged!"

"You were talking about outing her tonight anyways," he defended. Clara laughed and made her own posts in the tags.

"I can't with you guys right now," she groaned and went to find Kagami.

"Xiaolian!" a voice called out and Marinette turned to see her biǎo jiě Liu.

"Liu! I didn't know you were in Paris!" she gasped and ran to hug her cousin.

"I was voted to represent Lanxia at the summit," Liu laughed. "And look at you little one! Did you make this yourself?"

"Yes, I did. I also made my date's Furisode. Come on, I want to introduce you to my friends."

"And I need to take a picture of you to show nǎi nai and the rest," Liu noted. Marinette nodded and pulled her cousin to Alya and the others.

"Marinette, somehow Adrien's little #whereslila is trending!" Rose laughed.

"Of course, so is #whoslila…who even started that?" Alya groaned.

"Jagged did," she said matter-of-factly and Alya quirked an eyebrow. "Anyways, guys I want to introduce you to my biǎo jiě Guo Liu. Liu, these are some of my friends from school," she introduced them each in turn.

"It's great to meet all of you," Liu said brightly. "Xiaolian, I need to go mingle but pictures first! I can't wait to show off how you've grown up since the last time you came to visit." She pulled her phone out and took a picture of Marinette before hurrying off to mingle.

"Xiaolian?" Rose questioned.

"It's what my family in China calls me…well, the ones that have met me at least."

"And what's a…biǎo jiě…?"

"An older female cousin with a different last name," she sighed. "Chinese families are complicated…"

"Clearly," Juleka laughed.

"Marinette…," Alya started. "Why would Jagged of all people start a tag questioning who Lila is…?"

"Because he doesn't know her," Rose sighed. "Lila's been lying to us this whole time."

"But she has no _reason_ to lie!" Alya argued.

"Doesn't change the fact that she _did_ ," Juleka snapped. "And Marinette's been trying to warn us ever since she first came to our school."

"That doesn't make any sense! If she'd been trying to warn us, then--"

"Check your sources," Marinette sighed. "That's what you told me. I _had_ checked my sources. I _watched_ her steal Adrien's book her first day at our school. And then I _watched her_ throw the book in the trash to hide it from Adrien. I _watched_ her lie to Adrien about being a superhero. And I _watched_ Ladybug call her out for lying about knowing the hero. You could have asked Adrien since I listed him as a key witness. She tells a story about Jagged, who I have on speed dial and you know I work with, but clearly, I'm not a reliable source to verify. Can we not talk about her please? I'd rather try and enjoy this…"

Marinette went to go speak with a few of the dignitaries and went to track down Kagami. She spotted her date, but she bumped into Lila's mother first.

"You're Marinette, right?" Mme Rossi said lightly. "You go to my daughter's school. I'm so glad the Akuma attacks at the school lightened up enough for everyone to start going to class again."

"The school hasn't closed for more than an afternoon because of Hawkmoth," she said, surprised by the woman's statement. "Ladybug's cure always fixes all the damage."

"Really? But for nearly a whole semester, my daughter told me that the school was closed due to mass Akumatization…"

"The semester she spent traveling abroad with you on a diplomatic mission to help gather support for a plan to help with the climate crisis?"

"I'm sorry, what? We haven't left Paris since we moved here. Then that means all the times Mr Damocles was trying to get hold of me…he was simply trying to do his job and check on Lila when she wasn't attending school…"

"Where is she tonight? We have several classmates here tonight and we've been worried since she said she would be here…"

"Home, sick…but I wonder if that was even the truth…thank you for letting me know about this…she's going to be in so much trouble when I get home."

Marinette sighed and made a post to Instagram. 'Found Lila's mom, but no Lila. #whereslila #sheshomesick'

Within a minute, Alya commented on the post 'I'll go bring her some soup then! Got a couple of bones to pick anyways…' and she got a message from Nino that Alya rushed out.

"Well, my friend Alya's gone off to go bring her some soup…hopefully she was telling the truth this time…I should probably go make sure Jagged and Clara are doing okay…it was nice meeting you, Mme Rossi."

* * *

Alya was livid. Both at herself and at Lila. After Marinette had went off to mingle, Rose had mentioned to her that Marinette had stopped even trying to say anything about Lila's lies because no one ever believed her and she got tired of trying to warn people who didn't want to listen. She was supposed to be Marinette's best friend. She should have given her the benefit of the doubt at the very least. She'd been a horrible friend when it came to Lila. And while she walked, she went live on the Ladyblog.

"I'm making this post as a place holder and an apology to everyone. I was just informed that I've been posting faulty information. Information that I…admittedly could easily have checked myself in the first place. So, I'll be purging some of my video interviews after I do some intense recon. As everyone knows, I _try_ to be a reliable source of information concerning all things related to Ladybug, and I'm more than embarrassed about this development. Until the videos and transcripts have been verified and potentially deleted, I'll say that any interview done with Lila Rossi for this blog should be taken with a grain of salt. Please do not seek her out to bash on her. This lapse in accurate information is entirely on me, as I should have made sure to check the facts before posting the interviews," she told her camera before ending the video and putting her phone down.

She made it home and picked up a thermos of soup just in case Lila really was sick. She wasn't entirely sure with the revelation that Lila had been lying about her celebrity connections if she'd been honest to her mother about being sick. She hoped that Lila wouldn't have lied about being sick at least. And one question was at the front of her mind for Lila: _Why_. And then she remembered the recent incident with Marinette nearly being suspended.

Adrien had tried to stick up for Marinette. And all Alya did was look at 'facts' like the evidence had been planted even though she should have known that Marinette would _never_ do something like any of that. Cheating on a mock exam? Even with all the class Marinette missed, she would have sought help studying if she didn't think she could do well on a test even if it wasn't official. She hated herself for how she'd dismissed Marinette that day.

Just _what_ was Lila's reasoning behind all of that? Trying to get Marinette in trouble over a dumb mock exam and then accusing her of theft and pushing her down the stairs. In hindsight all the signs of how ridiculous it was were slapping Alya in the face.

She got to Lila's apartment and knocked on the door. The door swung open when her hand connected with it and she frowned. There was no sign of Lila immediately inside the apartment to have opened the door.

"Lila?" she called into the apartment. When she got no response, she texted Sabrina asking to ask her father to get someone to come investigate. She wasn't sure it was safe to actually make any calls. Hesitantly, and holding up the thermos like it was a weapon, she creeped into the apartment. She called out for Lila again, but no one was there. She went back out into the hall and posted to Instagram

'Came to Lila's to get her some soup because she's sick, but there's no Lila and the door was open! #whereslila #seriouslyimscared #alreadycalledthepolice'

* * *

Sionnach and Skilpadde were out patrolling when both of their tools went off. The two boys paused in their run to check.

"It's Ladybug," Skilpadde gasped. "There's a missing person." Sionnach looked at his own message, which was from his sister. It was a message about the missing person, a girl from her class named Lila and she's sent a picture for reference. 

"Some girl named Lila? Beach Mheala just sent a photo of her. We should split up. We'll cover more ground helping to look for her," he suggested. 

"Sounds like a good idea. The cops have apparently already been called," Skilpadde sighed and the two heroes went in separate directions.

Sionnach kept an eye out and it wasn't long before he spotted a girl pacing a roof. He landed near her and almost approached, but paused when he realized what she was wearing. From behind, she seemed to match his sister's description of Lila, but she was wearing a mask and a very clearly peacock themed suit. Carefully, he took a picture of her and sent it to Marinette.

"I'm not getting distracted, Hawkmoth!" she shouted at her fan. "Oh, blah blah blah. Get over yourself. We both want the same thing, otherwise I wouldn't be working with you. That annoying bug's downfall. At least I'm not hiding out in a sewer because I got careless. No, if I'm lucky the bug will be the one to come looking for me and I can twist it to make people think she kidnapped me. Yes, that's the master plan right now. Everyone will be in such a tizzy about whether or not their precious hero would do something like that we can strike. Oh right, because people are _so_ smart that a few well-placed tears and words can't smooth over that little bitch's plot to out me. I got her once, it won't be too difficult to deal with her again."

Sionnach frowned and texted Marinette. _By the sound of her conversation, I found the new Mayura and your missing classmate. She apparently is plotting to claim that Ladybug kidnapped her_.

 _That would hinge on one of us showing up and being present to get her home_ , was her reply. _It's only a matter of time before cops show up._ Almost immediately after her second text reached him, he heard sirens.

"Shit. The cops are getting close. I have to drop this transformation before Ladybug shows up," the girl sighed, folding her fan and dropping her transformation. Sionnach waited to make sure Skilpadde wouldn't show up, but the cops made it to the roof before any other hero showed up. Lila made her claim about Ladybug, but the police clearly didn't believe her. Satisfied that he probably shouldn't need to cast an illusion to put more pause on Lila's story, he left the roof.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I am very salty about the show's lack of acknowledging Marinette's heritage  
> Hit me up on [Tumblr](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/ask) or [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/nakirataisho)


	8. Investigations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya and the heroes do some investigating on the villains...

Marinette got home after the gala with a lot on her mind. She'd texted each member of the team to meet up on the roof of Notre Dame the next day to talk about what Luka had seen. Finding out that Lila was the new Mayura, it was possible she could lead them to Hawkmoth and they could put an end to this fight. She detailed a few highlights of the night to her parents before heading up to her room to change and get cleaned up.

A young woman was sitting in her desk chair, hands folded neatly in her lap. Marinette bit back a scream and pulled her hair pin out of her hair, brandishing it like a weapon.

"Who are you and how did you get into my room?" she demanded, flipping her light on with her free hand. With better lighting, she recognized the woman as the one that took her to the elders when she went to the Order to get help.

"My name is Biyu," the woman said lightly. "And I made it here much the same way that you came to the temple before."

"So, what do you want? I thought the elders decided to leave me to my own devices with this," she sighed, putting the hair pin down. "And they'll be happy to hear that we've almost found our villains and can hopefully finish this."

"Not all of the elders agree with that decision. My master sent me to check on you and give you the guidance you asked for."

"It's a little late for that," she snapped and went to her bathroom to wash her makeup off.

"I can tell. You see, though it took some learning with this modern technology, but we were able to see video recordings of your recent exploits. We know you lied about having found the Grimoire."

"Well, I only have photographs of the pages," she sighed. "The man I suspect is Hawkmoth has the actual book."

"How did you obtain photographs if the book is in his possession?"

"I happened on the book…and then I learned that my suspect was threatening his son with isolation if the book wasn't returned to him, we took photos of the pages and I returned the book. At the time he couldn't read the book anyways, but then he kidnapped Fu and probably forced the code out of him before we were able to mount a rescue," she explained.

"So…you lied about having a copy of the Grimoire because you didn't have the book itself," Biyu sighed. Marinette came out of the bathroom to get her pyjamas, watching the older woman. "And it appears you're managing fairly well on your own…"

"Only because I have to. Unfortunately, Hawkmoth still has an advantage over us because he's an adult," she snapped.

"Your Miraculous didn't respond to Fu transferring the box to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"The limitation is a training safeguard. When a trainee reaches adulthood or the elders deem their training complete, the limitation is removed. From my understanding of the transference spell that Fu used, the limitation on your Miraculous should have been removed…"

"Considering I still have to deal with a timer, that didn't happen," she muttered.

"Then I can perform the necessary spell to rectify that. The council at the very least agrees that you have proved yourself capable."

"So glad I impressed a bunch of old geezers that left me alone to clean up their mess…," she bit.

* * *

When Alya got home from the Gala, she dove into research. She was shocked at how easy it really was to disprove Lila's claims. It was like a slap to the face as she realized how much of an idiot she'd been. Demanding that Marinette provide evidence that as a journalist she should have obtained herself. All she'd cared about was how amazing the story sounded and the hits her interviews pulled in.

She started writing, documenting her sources as she went. Honestly, she didn't plan to present it to anyone since she figured that everyone else that Lila had duped would (hopefully) realize with all the Instagram drama that Lila was a liar. The only thing she really planned to do with this information besides getting the article out of her system was provide her blog followers with sources debunking the lies that she herself had published.

While she worked, she got a text from Nino. She frowned when the preview only showed a few distressed emojis and opened the message.

'😱😱😡🤬 Babe turn on the news! Lila hit a low blow just now!' She replied with a question mark and turned on the news.

"The girl in question," a reporter was saying as a photo of an unusually angry looking Lila was plastered on the screen. "Lila Rossi was found on a roof several blocks away from her home by police fairly quickly after one of her classmates sent Lieutenant Roger Raincomprix's daughter a text to notify the officer of Lila's disappearance and the state of the apartment. The Rossi apartment was found unlocked and, according to officers that have already investigated the apartment, _staged_ to look as if a struggle took place. When the police found Lila, she claimed without being prompted that _Ladybug_ had broken into her apartment and kidnapped her."

"What the hell?!" Alya gasped.

"Of course, this claim wasn't taken seriously as the hero Skilpadde had informed police searching in another area that Ladybug was out of town for the evening and he and Sionnach were the only members of the hero team on duty this evening. Lila is being detained overnight pending an investigation concerning a currently undisclosed situation. Our sources are hinting at a series of hashtags on Instagram that seem to have been trending during the big Climate Summit Gala tonight," she continued as the banner on the bottom of the screen displayed the two hashtags in question: #whereslila and #whoslila. "As we get more information and the permission to share it, we'll keep you updated. And now to Jean with the evening weather update!" The news feed switched to the weather broadcast and Alya turned the TV off.

"Why would she claim that Ladybug kidnapped her?" she mused. "I need to get to the bottom of this…" She checked the time and groaned. "In the morning." She wrote down a few potential sources for her investigation and went to get ready for bed.

* * *

The next day, Lila was still the hot topic on everyone's lips, and not in a good way. For the heroes, what they were concerned with was the transformation that Sionnach had witnessed. The five heroes sat on the roof of Notre Dame discussing it.

"So, this Lila person is the new Mayura," Beach Mheala said carefully.

"And Hawkmoth is hiding out in the sewers," Skilpadde verified.

"That's what she said over that call," Sionnach sighed.

"I think we're just lucky at this point that the situation is nowhere near as bad as last Heroes' Day. I don't think there's nearly the level of outrage she wanted to create…," Ladybug sighed.

"And with her being detained…is she still in holding?" Kageneko asked.

"I spoke with Sabrina, Lieutenant Raincomprix's daughter," she tacked on the descriptor for Kagami and Luka since they didn't know any of her classmates outside of Kitty Section. "According to her father, they're holding her until the investigation is done with her mother's consent. And almost every person she's name dropped that was at the Gala told me they were considering suing her for slander…and apparently her accusation against me last night has the city talking about their own suit on my behalf…"

"So, we won't be dealing with Mayura for a while," Skilpadde concluded. "That's good…"

"I'm going to go to the police station in a bit to see if I can get the Peacock Miraculous out of the belongings they seized from her. Hopefully they didn't turn everything over to her mother yet…I really don't want to be the bearer of news like that with everything Mme Rossi's going through right now…"

"So, what's our plan beyond that?" Kageneko sighed.

"Well, we know he's hiding in the sewers from what Sionnach heard last night. I've been tracking Akuma and other information I've gathered points to Gabriel Agreste being Hawkmoth…"

"That would explain her comment about him getting careless."

"And explain why his activity's spiked since Gabriel went missing. We can split up and search the sewers discreetly. Keep in contact and be careful that he doesn't get the drop on us…," Ladybug suggested. "Oh! I almost forgot. Before we do any of this, we need to move this to L'école Françoise DuPont."

"What happened?" Beach Mheala asked.

"I learned something that'll even the playing field. But the spell has to be done while you're not transformed," she explained. Everyone looked at her in confusion. "We're going to get rid of the five-minute timer. I've already talked to the faculty at the school since their locker areas don't have cameras and nothing's scheduled there today. There's enough space that I can unlock everyone's Miraculous at once without revealing anyone's identities."

"Sweet," Skilpadde laughed. The others nodded in agreement and they went to the school.

* * *

Kageneko went with Ladybug to the police station, hoping to be discreet about their inquiries. Lieutenant Raincomprix greeted them with a tired sigh.

"Morning, Ladybug, Kageneko. You come to ask Mlle. Rossi why she tried to accuse you of kidnapping her while you were out of town, Ladybug?"

"Not exactly. I know exactly why she said what she did. Sionnach actually found her several minutes before officers arrived…can we talk in private please? I'd like for this to reach as few ears as possible for the moment," Ladybug sighed. The officer nodded gravely and they went to an office.

"So, what's the situation, Ladybug? We'd love some insight since she's not talking."

"Well…," the hero sighed tiredly and told the officer everything related to Lila's apparent hatred of Ladybug all the way up to Sionnach witnessing Mayura drop her transformation. The officer was shocked.

"I'm sorry, Ladybug…," he said after a long moment when Ladybug finished her explanation. "Since she's a minor, we turned her belongings over to her mother when it was decided to hold her…"

"I'll go talk to her mother then…," Ladybug sighed.

"Lieutenant…," Kageneko hedged.

"Don't worry, ladies," he assured them. "We've been figuring up how to handle the super villains when you catch them…and particularly with Mlle. Rossi being a minor, we're going to handle this with discretion."

"Thank you," Ladybug murmured. "Come on, Kageneko, let's go break the news to her mom…"

* * *

Alya typed furiously at her computer, cross referencing everything she found and documenting her finds. Literally everything Lila had told them except for her name had been a lie, but she still had no idea what possessed her to try and accuse Ladybug of kidnapping. Then, she remembered Volpina. The ‘fox hero’ that had tried to discount Ladybug’s importance but never appeared again after that mysterious meteor that came out of nowhere. And the necklace that Lila tried to claim Marinette had stolen from her that was oddly familiar to Alya.

"I'm such an idiot!" she gasped. "There's no way that necklace was a family heirloom…"

She did a little digging and found that _Gabriel Agreste_ had fake Miraculous in circulation in his jewellery line. The jewellery line that Marinette now had access to as the new owner of Gabriel's fashion empire. Which meant that her best friend had access (she hoped) to shoppe purchase records. She could at least assure Marinette that the necklace hadn’t even been what Lila claimed that day. As if that would be any consolation.

She looked up news footage from the 'Volpina' incident. The _one_ Akuma incident she'd somehow managed to miss. There wasn't much footage from the incident, just the moment she 'saved Paris' from the meteor. But the news cameras did manage to catch a good HD shot of the so-called heroine.

"Fox ears…fox theme…a fake Miraculous…," she muttered, examining the girl in the video. After some more digging, she found that scientists had looked into the meteor but came up with nothing and concluded that it had to been the doing of an Akuma that Ladybug and Chat Noir took care of without the usual fanfare. Only one person she knew could help clear up _this_ mystery, so she grabbed her notebook and went to the Bruel home.

When she got there, she took a deep breath before knocking on the door. Ivan's mother answered the door and blinked at her in surprise.

"You're…Ivan and Adrien's classmate, Alya, right?"

"Yes, is Adrien in…? I want to ask him something…," she sighed.

"Sure. Come on in, dear," Mme Bruel laughed and let her in. "Adrien, a friend from school!"

"Coming," Adrien called. He came into the living room after a moment. "Alya…what's up?"

"I know it might be sensitive…but I'm doing some digging on Lila. You heard what she tried to do last night, right?"

"Yeah…she tried to say Ladybug of all people tried to kidnap her. I honestly didn't think she'd go that far…"

"So…what happened between them?" she asked him, pulling out her notebook.

"Well…it started when Lila first came to Paris…," he told her the whole story and when he finished, she was dumbstruck. "I still don't know what came over Ladybug that day…but I get the feeling it has something to do with something that happened outside of being Ladybug."

"Would make sense…," she mumbled. And there was only one person she knew with an inexplicable dislike for the liar. But she kept her thought to herself. If _Marinette_ was Ladybug, that would explain more than just her attitude about Lila. Knowing how Adrien felt about Ladybug, she didn't want to share her theory, since that meant that he was in love with the girl that had dumped her crush on him for the sword wielding ice queen that dumped him. "Thanks, Adrien…that really cleared up some things…," she sighed, finishing up her notes.

"…Are you gonna share this with anyone?"

"No, I'm just writing an article to get it out of my system," she said, putting her notebook away.

"Oh, well…glad I could help. I'm gonna go back to practicing…I've got a lot of songs to catch up on and we have a recording session tomorrow."

"All right. Thanks for your time." She left the apartment, considering.

* * *

Sionnach crept through the catacombs under Paris, looking for any sign of someone living down there.

"Anything in your quadrant, Skilpadde?" he asked over the Bluetooth.

"Nothing. Beach?" Skilpadde sighed.

"I think I might have something guys," his sister mumbled. "I hear voices around the corner."

"Stay there, Beach," Sionnach gasped, using his tool to track her location.

"I'm on my way," Skilpadde said.

"Okay…," Beach sighed. As he ran towards his sister's location, she gasped sharply.

"Beach? What happened?"

"I-I'm fine…," she whispered. "I'm using the camera on my trompo to see around the corner…"

"What did you see?" Skilpadde asked.

"Gabriel Agreste…he's talking to two tube things with what almost looks like…preserved corpses…"

"Oh my god…we need to contact Ladybug and Kageneko," Skilpadde gasped.

"I'll call her," Sionnach sighed.

* * *

Ladybug sighed tiredly as she and Kageneko rode the elevator up to the Rossi apartment.

"Ladybug?"

"I _really_ didn't want to have to be the one to tell Mme Rossi about her daughter…," she groaned.

"Better us than the news," Kageneko rationalized.

"Right…"

"So…about that date you mentioned yesterday?"

"Oh my god…you're bringing that up now?" she laughed. "I was thinking maybe dinner and a play? There's a Kabuki performance going on at the museum in a few days…I'm sure we can get tickets if you wanted to see it?"

"I've never been to a Kabuki performance, so it should be interesting."

"Then it's an official date?" Ladybug asked, eyeing the readout for which floor they were passing.

"I'd love to," Kageneko agreed just before the elevator stopped. "And this is our stop I guess?"

"Yeah…," she sighed and took a deep breath before heading to the apartment. When they got to the door, she knocked and mentally went over what she needed to say. The door opened and Mme Rossi blinked at the heroines in surprise.

"Ladybug? And…um…Kageneko right?"

"That's right," Kageneko agreed.

"What brings the two of you by…?"

"Can we come in? This is kind of sensitive…," Ladybug sighed.

"Oh, of course!" she gasped, letting them into the apartment. "I am _so_ sorry about my daughter…I have no idea what possessed her to try and stage a kidnapping and blame you…"

"I do," Ladybug groaned. "There's bad blood between me and your daughter over her lies…and she and Hawkmoth were trying to stage a repeat of Heroes Day."

"But why would she want to help him? Bad blood?"

"I don't have time to explain fully…but in her possessions you got from the police…was there a brooch that you didn't recognize?"

"How did you know?" Mme Rossi asked, going to the coffee table to pick it up. "I've never seen this before…I just figured it was from her boyfriend or something…," she mumbled, holding out the Peacock Brooch.

"This is a Miraculous," Ladybug sighed. "Specifically, the one that the villain Mayura uses…," she explained, taking the Miraculous. She looked it over and muttered a quiet spell to call Duusu out. The Kwami looked around and then did an excited flip.

"But why would my daughter have--" Mme Rossi broke off, gasping sharply. "Oh my god…"

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this…," Ladybug sighed. One of her yo-yos started vibrating in her pouch. "Hold on a second…," she mumbled, handing the brooch to Kageneko and pulling the device out. "It's Sionnach…," she told her teammate before answering the call. "Is everything okay down there?"

"We found him…and you're not gonna like what else we found. We're waiting under the Pont des Artes…Beach was pretty shaken up by what she saw…," he told her.

"Okay, we'll be right there," she told him, ending the call. "Time to go, Kageneko. And…I'm sure the police will get with you about what they're going to do about the villains…Lila didn't have the brooch for long, and since she's a minor, they might not do much…," she tried to reassure Lila's mother. Mme Rossi nodded and the two heroes hurried out.

"Did they find him already?"

"Beach found him," she sighed as they got in the elevator. "And she's pretty shaken by what she saw, but they're waiting under the Pont des Artes."

"Then maybe our date will be celebrating the end to all this as well…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit me up on [Tumblr](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/ask) or [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/nakirataisho)


	9. An End to the Terror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hawkmoth is defeated at long last!

Marinette barely took the time to stop by her room to drop off the Peacock Brooch before she headed to the bridge with Kagami. The two of them landed by the sewer entry under the bridge where the others were waiting for them. Sionnach and Skilpadde were comforting a shaken-up Beach Mheala. The two of them approached the group.

"Are you okay, Beach?" Ladybug asked gently.

"I'm…fine," she said quietly. "I just…he has their _corpses_ in tubes…"

"Oh my god…," Kageneko gasped.

"I'm sorry you were the one to see that…," Ladybug sighed. "If you're not up to this fight, you don't have to go in."

"No," Beach said firmly, clenching her fists. "I want to take this sicko down."

"Then let's go," Skilpadde bit.

"This has gone on long enough," Sionnach agreed. "So, Ladybug…do we have a plan?"

"Well, Lila hasn't said anything to the police, and I think he might be banking on her keeping her mouth shut. We hopefully have the element of surprise on our side…so we should just go in. Kageneko and I can handle him in close combat. If we end up fighting him near the…tubes, protect them. If they're not actually dead, we might be able to cure them somehow. Sionnach, has Trixx been updating you on some of the powers you can use?"

"Yeah," he sighed.

"Great. Then you and Beach can cover the exit. We'll try to make an opening for you to sting him, Beach," Ladybug finished and the group turned to the entry to the sewer.

* * *

Alya and Nino stood across the seine from the heroes, piloting a drone outfitted with a Go Pro.

"All right, we're live," Nino said after tinkering with his laptop for a minute.

"Great. Hey Ladybloggers," Alya told the camera. "This is a test of my new filming system to catch footage of our city's heroes without endangering myself. Per request of my boyfriend…," she sighed, piloting the drone to catch Nino on the camera.

"Babe, can you not? Tech crew is supposed to be behind the scenes and not on film," he groaned. She grinned and piloted the drone around.

"Anyways, while we were setting up, we spotted Sionnach, Beach Mheala and Skilpadde leaving the sewers. Beach Mheala seemed fairly shaken up about something, but as soon as Ladybug and Kageneko arrived, she's shaken that off. The team appears to be plotting something, so we'll be following them. Hopefully the sewer won't mess with our signal with the camera," she continued.

* * *

Almost all of Paris watched the broadcast of the Ladyblog with baited breath. There wasn't an active Akuma, so most people assumed that the team of heroes going into the sewers meant they'd found Hawkmoth's lair. The camera followed them at a safe distance while the heroes moved through the tunnels.

"Gabriel!" Ladybug shouted and everyone watching gasped. Ladybug had found out the villain's identity! "We have you outnumbered and surrounded," she threatened. "Give us your Miraculous and come quietly."

"Unlikely," the former fashion giant taunted. "Nooroo! Dark wings rise!" the feedback went dark for a moment and when it came back up, the camera was trained on a wide area where the five heroes were facing off against Hawkmoth. To the side, to many viewers' horror, were two containers that seemed to be life support tubes of some kind with an unconscious woman in each.

Skilpadde inched towards the tubes while Ladybug and Kageneko approached the villain. Every hero readied their weapons.

Sionnach and Beach Mheala moved to the sides to make sure the villain was surrounded. When he was left with only one exit, Hawkmoth tried to flee.

"Honeycomb!" Beach shouted and pointed to the exit he was heading for. The archway was covered in sticky honeycomb almost immediately and the villain turned to them.

"One down," he sneered.

"You think so?" Beach quipped, summoning up honeycomb three more times to block the other exits. A crowd watching in the square cheered for the hero.

"So, you've managed to upgrade your powers," Hawkmoth laughed. "No matter. You're still outmatched." He drew a sword from his cane and rushed Ladybug.

"You think so?" she taunted as Kageneko blocked his sword with her own. Ladybug pulled her second yo-yo out and stepped out of the way of the combat as the older villain slashed at Kageneko, the hero blocking every strike and retaliating with practiced skill. Hawkmoth thrust his blade towards Kageneko's heart and met a cloud of shadow that shifted and moved behind him before reforming into Kageneko. Ladybug was messing with her yo-yos to the side.

"Black Storm," Kageneko growled and a black tornado formed at the tip of her blade, catching Hawkmoth up in the wind and throwing him across the room. Sionnach played a tune on his flute and a hole appeared in the wall right where Kageneko was throwing Hawkmoth. The villain disappeared into the hole and was dropped from the ceiling to land in a heap on the ground.

The roar of the crowds cheering on the surface reverberated into the underground and echoed in the video.

As he got up, Ladybug approached with a thin sword and aimed the blade at his throat.

"Give. Up. Gabriel," she demanded. "You have no viable power here and you're outnumbered," she said firmly. He shouted in rage and lunged with his sword. Ladybug parried the blade with a look of boredom and he thrust again, wildly. The crowds watched with baited breath and collectively cheered as Beach's trompo appeared on the screen and struck Hawkmoth in the neck, freezing him as Ladybug parried the blade again. The heroine reached forward and pulled the brooch from Hawkmoth's collar.

As Ladybug put the brooch in a pouch on her belt, Hawkmoth's transformation fully melted away to leave Gabriel Agreste standing there still frozen. Sionnach played a tune on his flute and Gabriel was dropped in a hole. The crowd near the police headquarters heard the police scrambling to get the man into a cell before the paralysis wore off and they spread the word, commenting on the Ladyblog and messaging friends.

"We just got word," Alya's voice said over the video as the heroes idly checked the tubes. "Gabriel was sent to the Police with that portal Sionnach just made. Wonder what the heroes are up to with those tubes…"

"I think I know what to do…I read about this," Ladybug said softly, barely audible on the footage. "Let's open them up." The crowd watched as the heroes tested buttons until the tubes slid open. "Beach, we need two more honeycombs on them."

"What on earth…?" someone in a crowd muttered as the two corpses were covered in honeycomb.

"I think…," someone near them gasped. "Ladybug knows how to make a miracle happen with this…"

* * *

"Ladybug…what are you planning?" Beach asked quietly as Ladybug started to scratch symbols in the floor with her sword.

"I'll explain later. We have an audience," she sighed, nodding her head to the drone that had probably been filming the entire fight. She scratched the last symbol from the ritual she'd read about in the book. "Okay, now just disburse all the honeycombs." Beach did just that and the honeybee swarm that the honeycombs dissolved into started buzzing around the two tubes and over Nathalie and Emilie's bodies. The symbols on the ground started glowing and when the bees finally cleared, several minutes longer than it would have normally taken, Nathalie opened her eyes and Emilie pressed her hand to her forehead.

"What happened?" Emilie moaned.

"We were hoping you could tell us, Mme," Ladybug sighed as she helped Nathalie out of the chamber. "And Nathalie, just to clarify, you were Mayura, yes?" Nathalie paused and looked at the group of heroes.

"What happened to Chat Noir?" she asked instead of answering.

"Don't avoid the question. Gabriel's already in a holding cell by now," she snapped.

"He what?!" Emilie gasped.

"Beach, will you help Mme Graham de Vanilly?" she sighed and Beach did just that, helping Adrien's mother to her feet. "Sionnach?" He nodded and played a tune on his flute to create a portal. "Nathalie. Were you Mayura?"

"Yes…I was. And I used the Miraculous of my own free will…," she sighed, looking at the ground.

"That's all we needed to know," she sighed and the heroes escorted the two women through the portal and into the police station. They could hear the crowd cheering from the street. "As far as we know, Mme Graham de Vanilly wasn't involved in anything illegal with the Miraculous," she told Lieutenant Raincomprix. "She may need medical attention, since she was affected for so long."

"With her husband's recent activity, we'll be questioning her all the same," he sighed, and the police took both women into custody. Roger saluted the group of heroes. "Thank you."

"It's what we're here for," Kageneko said lightly and the group left the station. Reporters were waiting for them at the edge of a screaming crowd just inside a hastily constructed police barricade. A nearby monitor was showing news footage celebrating the defeat of Hawkmoth.

"I'm live outside the Police station," Nadja Chamack told her cameraman and her voice echoed from the screen. "Where the team of heroes is emerging from finally putting an end to the terrorist attacks from Hawkmoth and Mayura, just revealed to be Gabriel Agreste and…," she trailed off, unsure.

"Nathalie Sancoeur," Ladybug provided. "And we can't take all the credit. Just before this, we apprehended the woman that replaced Nathalie as Mayura and she revealed to us where Gabriel was hiding."

"Replaced…can you elaborate on that, Ladybug?"

"Yes. I'm sure everyone saw the state that Nathalie and Gabriel's wife had been in during the fight. The two of them were under a sleeping curse. I'm not sure how Mme Graham de Vanilly was afflicted, but Nathalie's curse was directly related to her use of a Miraculous for evil. When the curse took hold of her fully, Gabriel found someone else to help him as Mayura," Ladybug explained coolly, twisting some of the details to keep too much information about the Miraculous from being public. She hoped that a threat of being cursed for using a Miraculous for evil would deter others from seeking them out.

"Amazing," Nadja gasped. She touched a device in her ear and launched into a series of questions.

* * *

It was a long afternoon for the heroes after Gabriel's arrest. First was a formal press conference, then the mayor formally thanked them (and Adrien) for protecting the city, finally there was a second press conference where the mayor announced a public gala in honour of the heroes.

The heroes 'commissioned' Marinette (in private) for formal wear for the event when they finally parted ways and she wanted to hurry and get the sketches done so she could get to work. She found Biyu sitting in her desk chair when she made it to her room though.

"I assume you've retrieved the Miraculous from your team as well as the villains," Biyu said bluntly before Marinette could even greet her.

"Not yet," she sighed. "I didn't want to reveal their identities to anyone else…but I guess since Hawkmoth is defeated…," she trailed off, putting the Butterfly in the box with the other Miraculous. "This is it for Ladybug, I guess…"

"Not exactly," Biyu sighed. "I have a message for you from the elders." She offered a scroll and Marinette took it.

_Ladybug, you've done well in your recent exploits. We have decided to allow your group to continue using the Miraculous currently in your possession on the condition you continue to maintain secrecy and do not misuse them. We wish to further explore the training that Wen Fu clearly began with you, and have assigned Biyu to take up a position in Paris to act as a guide and mentor._

She read the letter several times in disbelief.

"Are…these the same elders that I met before?" she asked incredulously.

"There has been a shift in command at the Temple," Biyu laughed. "The elders were, quite old before…the incident. When you restored the temple, it was only a matter of time before most of them died and a new council was selected. They've made some…much needed changes to our rules," she explained. "Now, I'm sure you have work to do with all the events to celebrate your victory, I'll leave you to it and let you know where I'll be staying so we can discuss your training after all this is settled."

"Okay…," Marinette nodded and the woman made a sign with her hands, opening a sort of portal that she left through. Marinette rolled the scroll up and set it on her desk before she set to work on the outfits for her teammates.

* * *

The gala went well, with the team dressed up in formal wear themed after their suits and masks to hide their identities. The day after, they met on the lower landing of the Eiffel Tower where she'd first given them all their Miraculous.

"Ladybug," Beach started. "Since Hawkmoth is defeated…," she trailed off as if she didn't want to finish the question.

"As long as you guys continue to keep your identities secret, you can keep the Miraculous," she told them. "But hopefully we won't be needing to use them anymore. Now…I have a date to plan for so I've got to get going."

She didn't wait for a response before leaping away and heading home. She had used her newfound connections to get tickets to a show that night. _And_ she'd just found out that one of her cousins had moved to Paris to open a restaurant, so she made a reservation for her and Kagami to eat at the opening. She found a nice cheongsam to wear and texted Kagami the plans. She promptly got a text with a photo of a nice, but simple, floral yukata that happened to match the cheongsam Marinette had picked out. She grinned and snapped a picture of her own outfit selection to show Kagami.

 _Lol how do we keep matching without trying?_ Kagami replied.

 _Just lucky I guess the opening is in half an hour so I'll be right over to get you_ , she texted her before getting dressed and touching up her makeup. She styled her hair into a loose bun and pinned it into place with a bamboo designed hair pin. She also grabbed a charm she'd put together with red string and an old coin with 捌 etched into it. She then grabbed her shoes and headed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of a full on date scene...it's literally just dinner and theatre though...  
> Hit me up on [Tumblr](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/ask) or [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/nakirataisho)


	10. Adrien's Perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien's side of the story

Adrien needed a distraction, so he transformed and went out on patrol. There wasn't anything going on, so he lighted atop a tower of Notre Dame and sat down to look out over the city. There was a lot more than just the situation with Hawkmoth. Being a hero had become more of a job than the free time to goof around lately. He still loved helping people, but with all the secrets and Ladybug constantly turning him down it was getting draining.

Surely if he kept at it, she'd fall for him, right? That's how it worked on TV. They were a superhero duo, so they were meant to be together anyways. But she was apparently in love with someone else (probably some loser that wasn't good enough for her) and refused to see just how made for each other they were.

There was also the issue of Kagami. As far as his father was concerned, his options for romance were Kagami and Lila. So, he went with Kagami to avoid spending more time than he had to with Lila. He wanted to try and make it work. His _head_ said that it was best to move on and be with someone that actually liked him, but his _heart_ just wasn't in it and Kagami could tell and she kept harping at him over it.

"Hey Kitty," he heard Ladybug greet and he kept his eyes on the river below.

"Oh…hey Ladybug…," he replied. He heard her sitting beside him and he looked over, surprised that she wasn't in her usual suit.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You don't usually come out on my patrol nights," she said lightly.

"Well…," he started. He wanted to tell her just why he was out, but with her attitude about knowing each other's identities he knew she would shut him down. "This kind of feels like a calm before a storm, you know?" he said instead of what was really bothering him.

"I know…," she sighed. "That's why I just picked out four new heroes to help us in emergencies. I gave the Turtle, Dragon, Fox and Bee…to different people that weren't revealed during the Miracle Queen incident," she told him.

"Oh…cool," he mumbled. "Any chance you might share who they are with me?" he tried. "You're the Guardian now…," he trailed off, hoping that she'd finally decide to drop all the secrecy with him. They were partners, and that should have meant an equal share of information.

"I know, and no…," she started, looking away from him. "I won't be sharing them with you. Not with as often as you get hit with mind control attacks," she sighed. He pouted. He didn't think he got hit _that_ often, but the logic would have otherwise been sound.

"And why pick different holders for three of them?" he mumbled. "I mean, I get Chloé, but…"

"Because Hawkmoth discovered the identities of every temporary hero with the last incident," she said firmly. "If the situation escalates, he could specifically target them and their families."

"Oh, come on," he laughed. "This is the same guy that's picked the same baby and the same pigeon guy over a dozen times each already," he joked. They were dealing with an idiot man-child throwing tantrums. "And seriously…the last incident was pretty…well you know…we always deal with Chloé's tantrums pretty easily in the long run."

"It's still not a chance I'm willing to take," she snapped. "This isn't a game." With that final statement, she vaulted away. Adrien shook his head a little and leaned back on his hands.

Left in the dark again. All because Ladybug wanted to act like Hawkmoth was actually smart. Maybe he could figure out the new heroes when he met them.

It was probably close to midnight when he finally went home and threw himself on his bed.

* * *

Adrien had to commend Ladybug for her timing with the new team. It wasn't even lunch before disaster struck. He saw a large guy in green and assumed by the shield he was carrying that he was the new Turtle hero. The guy didn't seem very fast, so he kind of wasn't sure about Ladybug's choice there, but when he noticed that the new hero seemed to be focusing on guiding civilians to safety and then guarding their hiding place, he decided that she must have been focusing on the protective thing with the Turtle. So, he decided to ignore the new guy to let him do his thing, moving to attack the Akuma.

The villain dodged and disappeared for a moment. He froze and tried to find the enemy, but was struck in the back and knocked to the ground. As he got to his feet, a slender hand with honeycomb nails and fingerless gloves reached to help him. He took her hand and noticed the Bee Comb holding back her bangs as she helped him to his feet. When he had his bearings, she grabbed her trompo and threw it at the villain, moving to engage them and pausing when they vanished. To his surprise, she was able to block a strike from behind with the string of her trompo. In a flash of orange, she was joined by another hero wearing the Fox Pendant.

"Sionnach," Ladybug called. "Good to see you. Cover the alley over there!" He nodded and leapt in the direction she was pointing. A yo-yo nearly struck the villain but they vanished again.

"Ladybug," another voice called and he looked over to see a young woman with a sword on the approach. "Look out!" Ladybug leapt out of the way of a strike and the other heroine took her place, blocking the attack and quickly striking back. Chat shook his head and moved to flank the enemy, brandishing his staff. The bee heroine joined them and once Ladybug got in close enough, they had the enemy surrounded.

And so, they got the villain defeated and the damage fixed. He honestly thought that he and Ladybug would have been able to handle it by themselves, but he also admitted that the help made things a little less stressful. And since they'd had the help, Ladybug was the only one about to lose her transformation as far as he could tell. The heroes introduced themselves to him and Senryuu's name caught his attention.

Surely with her insistence on picking new heroes and all the secrecy she wouldn't have given the Dragon to _Kagami_ when Hawkmoth had known her identity from the start. Either way, he tried to discreetly prod for clues about the new heroes' identities. He felt as Ladybug's _first_ teammate he was entitled to that information.

His prodding earned him a dirty look from the new Turtle hero, Skilpadde, before the larger hero left the scene. Sionnach gave him a painfully disappointed look before leaving as well. He set his mouth and tried prodding Beach Mheala.

"I thought our identities had to remain secret," was her only response before she flew away with her trompo. He could feel an icy glare and looked to see Senryuu with her arms folded over her chest and an icy glare that cut him to the core. He froze, trying not to swallow in fear of her glare.

"And I was under the impression that any kind of personal information was none of anyone's business," she said sharply. "Unless I was misinformed by my Kwami."

"No," Ladybug sighed. "You have it right. We talked about this before, Chat. Secret identities are a secret for a reason…," she told him and he snapped out of his abrupt fear of the Dragon heroine. He glared at his partner and went home. When he was in the safety of his room, he dropped his transformation and angrily started playing on his Foosball table.

"What's wrong, Kid?" Plagg asked, perching on the end of the table.

"I'm her partner, right?" he groaned, smacking the ball with a row of figures.

"Yeah…," Plagg sighed. "But she's also the Guardian now and she's the one that makes the calls. Especially since I haven't seen anyone from the temple coming to help. It's her call."

"We've been through all of this together," he reminded him. "I _deserve_ to be included."

"Like Ladybug's deserved to have to shoulder everything?" Plagg bit. "She gave you her decision about the new heroes."

"And she's _wrong_!" he raged. "How can I be her partner if she won't include me?"

"Part of being partners is respecting the other's choices," Plagg sighed. "I get that you want to be included, but it's not your call. Maybe she'll let you in on it later."

"Adrien, are you home already?" the new secretary, Andria, called from the hall. He sighed tiredly and went to the door.

"Yeah…," he sighed. "What's going on?"

"Your father wants to speak with you," she sighed. He swallowed on instinct and left his room to go to his father's office. He knocked lightly on the door.

"Enter," Gabriel called and Adrien hesitantly stepped into the room. Kagami's mother was also in the room, stoically facing the desk.

"You…wanted to see me, Father?"

"Yes. You will no longer be dating Kagami," he said plainly. Adrien blinked in surprise.

"My daughter has expressed some…disagreements with our arrangement," Mme Tsurugi said lightly. "I feel it's unfair to the both of you to force you to be in a relationship," she explained before standing and heading for the door. "Of course, if the two of you wish to remain a couple, that's up to you." With that, she left the room and Adrien started to follow, grateful that he didn't have to pretend with Kagami anymore.

"Adrien, what do you think you're doing? I'm not finished talking to you," Gabriel snapped when Adrien had his hand on the knob.

"Sorry, Father," he sighed and turned back to face his father.

"Starting with the photo shoot this afternoon, you'll be dating Lila Rossi," he told him in that tone he used that didn't allow for arguing, so Adrien swallowed any arguments he might have prepared and nodded a little. " _Now_ you can go." Adrien nodded again and went to his room.

After a while, he was dragged out to the Eiffel Tower for the photoshoot. He hated this part of his life. Faking a smile and letting people hang all over him, following a photographer’s instruction and holding uncomfortable poses for what felt like hours at a time. And to make the whole situation worse, this particular shoot would seal his fate as Lila's accessory. What was next? A marriage? Would he _never_ get to make any choices of his own?

"Cheer up, Adrien," Lila scolded him when they paused for a break. "The photographer was just complaining about how you’re acting."

"Do you even like me?" he demanded.

"Of course, I do!" she gasped. "Why would you think I don’t?" He rolled his eyes and went to grab a snack from the wardrobe area. As he selected a carrot from the trays, he saw a familiar black butterfly flying by. He groaned and went to find a place to transform. On the bright side, he was getting out of the shoot, the down side was that he still hadn't cooled off after the fight that morning.

When Lila's latest Akuma form showed up, she immediately started zapping people around the monument. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen to them, but then they started moving towards him with blank expressions, like they were zombies. He jumped out of the way of a group and barely managed to dodge a beam from Lila. Sionnach and Beach Mheala showed up and it got a little easier to dodge with them around. If anyone were to ask, he would admit that he _did_ start trying to show off a little with the others helping.

He only wanted to show them who Ladybug's _real_ partner was. Then he spotted Skilpadde doing his 'get the civilians out of the way' thing and there was a decrease in enemies. He saw red as Ladybug and Senryuu showed up _together_ and started fighting even better than him and Ladybug ever had. To the point that the two girls nearly had Lila cornered, stealing the spotlight. Distractions and cornering the Akuma was _his_ job. Just as he was about to rush in and help them, they were pulled off by some controlled civilians.

Chat tried not to smirk as he took centre stage and engaged Lila. Well, he tried to. Her minions took up most of his attention. Then it happened. He saw Lila smirk and take a shot at Ladybug. He looked at Ladybug and saw her shift to dodge out of the way. The moment the shot left Lila's palm, he jumped in the way of the blast to afford Ladybug a shot. It was his thing after all.

"Idiot!" he heard Ladybug shout before everything went black. When he came to his senses, he was surrounded by the other heroes, all of them looking somehow disappointed.

"What happened…?" he asked. Then he noticed it. He wasn't transformed anymore. He looked at Ladybug, but he couldn't tell what she was thinking. She had her hand clenched around something and he blinked, looking at his own hands. _His_ ring was gone. "My ring!" he gasped. "Where is it?!"

"That was stupid, Adrien," Ladybug said sharply, clenching her hand. He realized that she must have his ring.

"But you were about to get hit!" he justified. That was _always_ why he took hits for her. She had to make it to the end of a fight and purify the Akuma.

"I was about to dodge!" she snapped. "If you had just paused for a split second you would have seen that! Or you could have dragged me out of the way. You did _not_ have to jump in and take that hit. And because of that, the enemy got your Miraculous. And…," she pointed to the sky and he looked to see a drone recording them and probably broadcasting on every news station in the area. "You’ve revealed your identity to all of Paris." Adrien blinked at her.

"Ladybug…give me my ring back," he demanded, holding his hand out expectantly. It was _his ring_ after all. And she needed him. A revealed identity hadn't stopped her from picking Kagami or even _Chloé_. And with his identity revealed, they could be on even footing finally.

"No," she said simply, tucking the ring into a pouch on her utility belt. "With your identity revealed to all of Paris, including Hawkmoth, I’m left with no choice but to retire you as Chat Noir." She pulled out her yo-yo and vaulted away. Senryuu said nothing, just shook her head and leapt away.

"Adrien…," Beach Mheala said softly. "Maybe one of us should get you home."

"Yeah, the media's about to swarm us," Sionnach sighed.

"I'll take him," Skilpadde said lightly. The other two heroes nodded and Beach Mheala left the scene.

"I'll go as well," Sionnach agreed. "Maybe with two of us the media will give a bit more space." So, the two heroes ushered him home in silence.

When they got to the mansion, his bodyguard moved to pull him onto the property. He cast a look back to the two heroes to see Skilpadde move much faster than his size should have allowed, pulling his shield up. Adrien assumed he was using it to make a call. Sionnach gave him a soft look that almost seemed like worry before he left as well. When Adrien made it inside the house, his father was standing at the base of the stairs with his usual impenetrable glare.

"Take him to his room!" Gabriel snapped and he was gently taken to his room. The moment his bodyguard was out of the room, all of the windows were covered with the metal security sheets. He rushed to his computer to message at least Nino. His computer was disconnected from the internet.

About to panic, he grabbed his phone and tried to text Marinette. He had no bars and no Wi-Fi connection. He tried making a call, but got an automated message that his phone was no longer in service when it should have been ringing. He had been cut off. And for what? Being a hero?

He tried to leave his room to get a snack, but his bodyguard was blocking the door. So, he was confined to his room too? He backed into his room and rubbed with his finger where his ring used to be. He couldn't let all this get to him. He wouldn't make himself a target for Hawkmoth even if all of this was completely unfair, down to having his ring taken away.

He was let out of his room for dinner, but as soon as he'd finished eating, he was dragged back into his new prison. The same happened for breakfast the next morning. All he could do to occupy his time was even less than he'd had before starting school: if he didn't have a copy of it in his room, he couldn't watch or read or play it. The knock came while he was playing Ultimate Mecha Strike. He paused his game and looked to the door.

"Adrien, there are heroes here to see you," Andria said lightly, and he rushed to the door. He opened the door and was disappointed to see that Ladybug wasn't alone. She was accompanied by a golden eyed heroine that almost looked like Senryuu. His eyes flicked to her hand, but he didn't see the ring. He _did_ notice paw prints on the pearls of her necklace. "You have half an hour, Ladybug," Andria sighed before stepping back into the hall.

"Thank you," she sighed, looking at Adrien. He moved to let the two heroes enter his room. "Adrien…"

"If you just give me another chance, Ladybug--" he started and she held up a hand to silence him. He tried not to make a face. Whether she was the new guardian or not, the old man had picked _him_ to be Chat Noir. What right did she have to deny him that?

"All of Paris knows your identity, Adrien. Letting you keep the ring…one of the two that Hawkmoth is after…you, your family and friends, everyone in Paris even, it would put everyone at risk. We just came to give you a chance to talk to Plagg."

"I'll be borrowing your bathroom," the new hero said lightly, heading that way. Ladybug moved to block the bathroom door, as if she expected Adrien to try and peak, as Plagg phased through it and flew over to Adrien.

"Sorry it has to be like this, Kid," the Kwami sighed. So Ladybug hadn't come to hear him out or consider giving him the ring back. She'd come so he could say goodbye to Plagg.

"If I didn't take that hit for you--"

"I was about to dodge!" she snapped, cutting him off again. "We talked about this yesterday. And this wasn't the first time you've done something like that."

"Oh really? Name one time…," he griped, folding his arms. Any time he'd gone down it was so she wouldn't take a hit.

"Dislocoeur and Maledikteur taking the blow for me when we both could have gotten out of the way," she said promptly before going on to rant at him about imagined slights. She mentioned tantrums, but he wasn't a toddler that would 'throw tantrums'. She was just in denial about how she felt about him, and he was right to get frustrated with her over it. "Just because we were teammates…that doesn't mean that we were meant to be together," she sighed and he made a face. "This isn't an Anime or TV drama. And I recently found out that you told that artist that we were dating? Then you acted like him getting Akumatized was solely because I didn't make it to that unveiling," she ranted. He opened his mouth to argue, but he only hung his head when he couldn't think of a defence for the Imposteur incident. That was her only legitimate complaint, though.

They lived in a world where magic was a thing and they were superheroes with magic jewellery fighting a crazed supervillain that preyed on people's negative emotions. What part of their situation _wasn't_ like an Anime or TV drama? Obviously, he was supposed to be her 'love interest' and she needed to stop dancing around how she really felt about him.

"And there was Syren…," Plagg muttered. His tone felt like a stab to the chest.

"Yeah, I hear from Plagg that you threatened to throw away the ring because I wouldn't tell you secrets that weren't mine to tell. While Paris was flooded and people were dying. You know if someone dies and stays dead for a certain length of time, my powers can _not_ bring them back? Now I might have been able to beat Syren on my own and win the day…but it may have been too late." He flinched at that. He hadn't realized that little bit about her power. He'd always just assumed that Miraculous Ladybugs was an infallible reset button. "And throwing a tantrum over secrets that weren't mine to tell at the time…or because my lack of a solid no on that date of yours was somehow playing with your feelings? Yes, I probably could have been clearer on my inability to be there, but you stood your friends up to wait for me when I said I couldn't come. I was surprised when I heard about that from Marinette that she wasn't the one Akumatized that day. She was devastated by you not showing up…but I guess she was already used to you dropping plans by then."

She took a steadying breath and went into the bathroom. Plagg floated in front of him.

"You're not really going along with this…are you Plagg?" he asked softly.

"Adrien, you're a great kid, but she's right," Plagg sighed. "I saw the footage of that fight. I don't like it, but it's too dangerous for you to keep the ring." The Kwami flew over and hugged his cheek. "I still mean what I said about you being the best Chat Noir I've ever had…"

Adrien sighed and rubbed Plagg's head a little before the Kwami went into the bathroom and the two heroines left. He slumped on his couch and turned off his game. After a few minutes, he went to the bathroom and vaguely heard the door to his room open. He assumed it was his father or Andria come to tell him something (worse would be if it was Lila) but when he got out of the bathroom, he found himself face-to-face with _Hawkmoth_. On instinct, he reached to guard his hand and the villain just laughed at him. A black butterfly flew toward him and into the charm in his pocket.

* * *

When Adrien came to, he was in the middle of town and surrounded by the heroes. Ladybug was the first to approach him and she touched his shoulder.

"I'm sorry…," he mumbled. She said nothing and vaulted away. Beach Mheala smiled sympathetically at him and went in a different direction. The new addition to the team simply left without even looking at him and he was left with Sionnach and Skilpadde.

"Whenever you're ready, Adrien," Skilpadde sighed. He nodded and went with them back to the mansion. He was shocked to see the police and reporters by the gate. His bodyguard rushed to him and fussed over him for a minute before Andria approached.

"What's going on…?" he asked.

"I'll explain everything when we get to my office," she told him and gently ushered him to a car. When he was settled in the back seat, she got in beside him and the driver started the car. "I work for Child Welfare and after a tip about your home situation, I've been assigned to your case."

"Where's my father?" he asked, not fully understanding what she was getting at.

"Fled the house at the first sign of police," she sighed. "Adrien, I don't think you realize just how…wrong the way he treated you was. I won't burden you with all of the details, but we're going to get in contact with any relatives you have to get you taken care of."

He spent the afternoon in an office before Andria approached him with news that his aunt was refusing to even come talk to them in person about taking care of him. Eventually, a couple came into the office and took him to an apartment. Adrien numbly followed them. The whole way, the couple were asking about things he'd want from his 'old' house, but there wasn't anything he could think of, so he remained silent. When they got to the apartment, Adrien heard familiar music drifting through the door. And sure enough, when he was ushered through the door, he saw Kitty Section practicing in the living room. The group stopped playing and swarmed him.

"Adrien, are you okay?" Rose demanded.

"I'm fine…kind of confused…," he admitted. Ivan touched his shoulder.

"It's been a long weekend," Ivan laughed. "But come on, I bet you're tired after everything…I'll show you your room."

"You mean…I'm staying _here_?" he gasped.

"See you at school, Adrien," Juleka told him before the band members packed their things and left.

Ivan showed him to a room and then he was pulled to the dinner table, where the couple (Ivan's parents) explained that they volunteered to take him in since he didn't have any relatives willing.

"Andria showed us the schedule your father had for you," Mme Bruel sighed when they finished eating. "Obviously you won't be needing to do all that modelling anymore, but we wanted to ask you about all the extra curriculars. If you don't want to do any of them, just let us know and we'll take care of putting a stop to them. For now, you boys have homework, I'm sure…don't stay up too late since it's a school night."

* * *

Living with the Bruels was kind of a culture shock for Adrien. He had no idea what to do with all the free time they allowed him. Ivan invited him to join their other friends at a movie and all the adults said when he hesitated was that he could go if he wanted to. They took him shopping and let him roam the store alone to pick out things (that in itself was a process that took a whole afternoon) and the only thing they didn't let him get was something out of their budget. He mentioned when they were pressing about his interests that he didn't really like fencing, so they offered to withdraw him from the classes.

The same happened with Chinese. He properly joined Kitty Section and had a blast. Marinette started actually making use of her connections and got Jagged Stone to join them during a practice session. The Akuma that interrupted them going to dinner after was annoying, but ever since his father went missing, attacks were steadily increasing. He found out that Marinette was the new owner of his father's brand and he was really happy for her.

Contracts were signed and the band started properly recording. Then the Gala happened and Lila was _arrested_. The day after the Gala, Alya came over and asked him about Lila. He told her what he could and she left. Shortly after that, he got an alert that she was streaming on the Ladyblog. He opened the blog, thinking maybe she was publishing that article after all, but he was surprised to see her filming the heroes going into the sewers.

"Gabriel!" Ladybug shouted and his jaw went slack. He watched, horrified, as _his father_ transformed into Hawkmoth and was defeated by the heroes. He barely registered that the heroes seemed able to use their powers without limits. If he hadn't been revealed, he wondered if he would have been brought in on _that_ at the very least. After the fight was over, the mysterious tubes were opened and he shouted in surprise when his _mother_ and Nathalie were revealed. Unable to keep watching, he turned off the stream and stared blankly at his computer screen.

* * *

He was invited to the ceremony thanking the heroes for their service, and he barely made an appearance. Fortunately, being the son of Paris' hated super villain didn't make people start bullying him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit me up on [Tumblr](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/ask) or [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/nakirataisho)

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up on [Tumblr](https://sorcerymuses.tumblr.com/ask) or [buy me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/nakirataisho)


End file.
